AN ACT increasing the penalties of hazing.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House Representatvies in General Court assembled, and by the authrity of the same, as follows:
Chapter 269 of the General Laws is hereby amended by striking out sections 17 to 19, inclusive, and inserting in place thereof the following three sections: -
Section 17.
Whoever is a principal organizer or participant in the
crime of hazing, as defined herein, shall be punished by a fine of not
more than three thousand dollars or by imprisonment in a house of
correction for not more than one year, or both such fine and
imprisonment.
The term ''hazing'' as used in this section and in sections eighteen
and nineteen, shall mean any conduct or method of initiation into any
student organization, whether on public or private property, which
wilfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any
student or other person. Such conduct shall include whipping, beating,
branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced
consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug or other substance, or
any other brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely
to adversely affect the physical health or safety of any such student or
other person, or which subjects such student or other person to extreme
mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or
extended isolation.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section to the contrary,
consent shall not be available as a defense to any prosecution under
this action.
Section 18.
Whoever knows that another person is the victim of hazing as
defined in section seventeen and is at the scene of such crime shall,
to the extent that such person can do so without danger or peril to
himself or others, report such crime to an appropriate law enforcement
official as soon as reasonably practicable. Whoever fails to report such
crime shall be punished by a fine of not more than one thousand
dollars.
Section
19.
Each institution of secondary education and each public and private
institution of post secondary education shall issue to every student
group, student team or student organization which is part of such
institution or is recognized by the institution or permitted by the
institution to use its name or facilities or is known by the institution
to exist as an unaffiliated student group, student team or student
organization, a copy of this section and sections seventeen and
eighteen; provided, however, that an institution's compliance with this
section's requirements that an institution issue copies of this section
and sections seventeen and eighteen to unaffiliated student groups,
teams or organizations shall not constitute evidence of the
institution's recognition or endorsement of said unaffiliated student
groups, teams or organizations.
Each such group, team or organization shall distribute a copy of this
section and sections seventeen and eighteen to each of its members,
plebes, pledges or applicants for membership. It shall be the duty of
each such group, team or organization, acting through its designated
officer, to deliver annually, to the institution an attested
acknowledgement stating that such group, team or organization has
received a copy of this section and said sections seventeen and
eighteen, that each of its members, plebes, pledges, or applicants has
received a copy of sections seventeen and eighteen, and that such group,
team or organization understands and agrees to comply with the
provisions of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen.
Each institution of secondary education and each public or private
institution of post secondary education shall, at least annually, before
or at the start of enrollment, deliver to each person who enrolls as a
full time student in such institution a copy of this section and
sections seventeen and eighteen.
Each institution of secondary education and each public or private
institution of post secondary education shall file, at least annually, a
report with the board of higher education and in the case of secondary
institutions, the board of education, certifying that such institution
has complied with its responsibility to inform student groups, teams or
organizations and to notify each full time student enrolled by it of the
provisions of this section and sections seventeen and eighteen and also
certifying that said institution has adopted a disciplinary policy with
regard to the organizers and participants of hazing, and that such
policy has been set forth with appropriate emphasis in the student
handbook or similar means of communicating the institution's policies to
its students. The board of higher education and, in the case of
secondary institutions, the board of education shall promulgate
regulations governing the content and frequency of such reports, and
shall forthwith report to the attorney general any such institution
which fails to make such report.