Hazing law's author not interested in changing it

The author of the Florida hazing law (since 2005 hazing is a felony in Florida) is not interested in changing it.

Last month, the college world watched along with the law's author, Rep. Adam Hasner, as suspended Florida A&M University students and Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity brothers Michael Morton and Jason Harris received two years in prison for beating a fraternity pledge.
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"Until this issue has worked its way through the court system, it's premature for the Legislature to go back and try to change the definition," Hasner said.

In a perfect world, students just stop the underground, violent rituals of hazing. Overnight, they could render the hazing law obsolete.

Until then, "Some strong sentences need to be handed down to set an example," said Florida State University student Max Ferreira, who as a Sigma Phi Epsilon pledge last year was ordered to do extreme push-ups and squatting with his arms held straight out for hours, while he was being screamed at with obscenities.

"A lot of fraternities think it's a joke and they're not going to get caught and they're not going to change their ways," said Ferreira, who never joined the fraternity. "Part of this is you have the mentality you don't want to let pledge brothers down."
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Reverberations from the hazing convictions are many, from Hasner being asked to speak on college campuses to Black Enterprise magazine, which has declared FAMU the best college in America for black students, running an article titled, "Hazing in Black Fraternities: Why jail time is necessary to stop the long-standing tradition."

Tallahassee Democrat - www.tallahassee.com - Tallahassee, FL.

2 Florida frat brothers get 2-year prison terms in hazing | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

In a related story to yesterday's big SigEp hazing bust news, two members of another fraternity in Florida received prison sentences for their part in a hazing incident.

Florida A&M University students Michael Morton, 23, of Fort Lauderdale, and Jason Harris, 25, of Jacksonville, were led from the courtroom in handcuffs, as was Harris' lawyer, Richard Keith Alan II, who was charged with indirect criminal contempt.

Morton, former president of the university's Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, was found guilty of striking prospective member Marcus Jones, 20, of Decatur, Ga., with a wooden cane so severely during four nights of initiation rites that he underwent surgery for bruising to his buttocks.

Harris was convicted of participating by encouraging Jones to bear up under the beatings and reviving him with water after he passed out so he could go back for more punishment.
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She said she imposed a two-year sentence on the fraternity members to deter others.

"I want to save the victims who will quietly go along because they want to belong," Dekker said. "I want schools to be furious and mad and upset that they can lose talent to this and come down hard on hazing."

They could have received 12 months to five years under sentencing guidelines for their December conviction. The 2005 law made it a felony to participate in hazing that results in serious bodily injury.
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Jones, who also suffered a broken ear drum that has since healed, was not in court. He told the judge in a statement that he still has pain and suffers from stress, depression and flashbacks.

His father, Army Master Sgt. Mark Jones, addressed Dekker in person, saying the defendants have not shown remorse.

"They tortured my son," the elder Jones said. "He wasn't hazed. He was tortured."

Chuck Hobbs, a lawyer who represented all the defendants except Harris, said Marcus Jones could have withdrawn from the initiation at any time.

"So I don't view him as the helpless victim," Hobbs said. "I view him as the willing participant."

The new law, though, prohibits evidence of willing participation from being used as a defense to hazing.

Apparently, Florida is serious about hazing as a crime. Note the part about "willing participation" is not a defense. And the judge even tagged the lawyer! How hard is it going to be to get someone to take your case now, eh?

2 Florida frat brothers get 2-year prison terms in hazing | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle