H 8062

2026 -- H 8062
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LC005603
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  STATE  OF        RHODE  ISLAND
  IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY
  JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2026
  ____________
  AN ACT
  RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- HAZING
  Introduced By: Representatives Dawson, and Read
  Date Introduced: February 27, 2026
  Referred To: House Judiciary
It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:
1SECTION 1. Sections 11-21-1, 11-21-2 and 11-21-3 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-
2 21 entitled "Hazing" are hereby amended to read as follows:
311-21-1. Penalty for hazing.
4(a) Any organizer of, or participant in, an activity constituting hazing, as defined in
5 subsection (b) of this section, § 11-21-4 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction,
6 shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500), or punished by imprisonment for not less
7 than thirty (30) days nor not more than one year, or both.
8(b) “Hazing” as used in this chapter, means any conduct or method of initiation into any
9 student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endangers
10 the physical or mental health of any student or other person. This conduct shall include, but not be
11 limited to, whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced
12 consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug, or other substance, or any brutal treatment or
13 forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of the
14 student or any other person, or which subjects the student or other person to extreme mental stress,
15 including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.
1611-21-2. Penalty for school official permitting hazing.
17Every person, being a teacher, principal, superintendent, commandant, coach, athletic
18 director or other person in charge of any public, private, parochial, or military school, college or
19 other educational institution, or student organization, who shall knowingly permit any activity
1 constituting hazing, as defined in § 11-21-1 § 11-21-4 or knowingly or negligently fails to take
2 reasonable measures within the scope of their authority to prevent hazing, shall be guilty of a
3 misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than one hundred dollars
4 ($100) more than one thousand dollars ($1000), or punished by imprisonment for not more than
5 one year, or both.
611-21-3. Tattooing or permanent disfigurement. Serious bodily injury due to hazing.
7Every person being a student, or being a person in attendance at any public, private,
8 parochial, or military school, college, or other educational institution, who shall tattoo or knowingly
9 and willfully cause serious injury to any person toward whom an act of hazing is directed
10 permanently disfigure the body, limbs, or features of any fellow student or person attending the
11 institution by the use of nitrate of silver or any like substance, or by any other means, shall be held
12 guilty of a crime of the degree of mayhem, and shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned not exceeding
13 ten (10) years nor less than one year.
14SECTION 2. Chapter 11-21 of the General Laws entitled "Hazing" is hereby amended by
15 adding thereto the following sections:
1611-21-4. Definitions.
17As used in this chapter:
18(1) "Hazing" means any conduct or method of initiation, affiliation, or maintenance of
19 membership into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully
20 or recklessly creates a risk, above the reasonable risk encountered in the course of participation in
21 the institution of higher education or the organization, which endangers the physical or mental
22 health of any student or other person or willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental
23 health of any student or other person. This conduct shall include, but not be limited to, whipping,
24 beating, branding, tattooing, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of
25 any food, liquor, beverage, drug, or other substance, or any brutal treatment or forced physical
26 activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of the students or any other
27 person, or which subjects the student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended
28 deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.
29(2) "Serious injury" means injury that creates a substantial risk of death or causes serious
30 physical disfigurement or protracted loss or impairment of the function of any bodily member or
31 organ or causes significant mental damage or impairment.
32(3) "Student" means any person regularly enrolled on a full-time or part-time basis as a
33 student in an educational institution.
34(4) "Student organization" means a fraternity, sorority, association, corporation, order,
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1 society, corps, athletic group, cooperative, club, service, social or similar group, whose members
2 are or include students, operating at or in conjunction with an educational institution.
311-21-5. Consent.
4The implied or express consent of any person toward whom an act of hazing is directed
5 shall not be a defense in any action brought under this chapter.
611-21-6. Immunity from legal repercussions.
7Any person who, in good faith, without malice and in the absence of evidence of an intent
8 to defraud, seeks medical assistance for someone experiencing physical or mental harm as the direct
9 result of an act of hazing, shall not be charged or prosecuted for any crime related to hazing as
10 defined in § 11-21-4.
11SECTION 3. This act shall take effect upon passage.
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  EXPLANATION
  BY THE LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL
  OF
  AN ACT
  RELATING TO CRIMINAL OFFENSES -- HAZING
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1This act would enlarge the definitions of prohibited acts that constitute hazing, make
2 principals, coaches, athletic directors and others responsible for knowingly failing to take
3 reasonable measures to prevent hazing and would punish serious injury by up to ten (10) years of
4 imprisonment. This act would also increase the civil and criminal penalties for hazing and
5 permitting hazing.
6This act would take effect upon passage.
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