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44 States have hazing laws. Alaska, Montana, South Dakota, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Wyoming do not have anti-hazing laws.

The following Hazing Policy was passed by the Texas State Legislature relating to offenses related to hazing at or in connection with an educational institution. To examine hazing laws in your state, please visit http://www.stophazing.org/laws.html.

1. "Educational institution" includes a public or private:
   • high school; or
   • college, university, or other postsecondary educational
2. "Pledge" means any person who has been accepted by, is considering an offer of membership from, or is in the process of qualifying for membership in any organization.
3. "Pledging" means any action or activity related to becoming a member of an organization.
4. "Student" means any person who:
   • is registered in or in attendance at an educational institution;
   • has been accepted for admission at the educational institution where the hazing incident occurs; or
   • intends to attend an educational institution during any of its regular sessions after a period of scheduled vacation.
5. "Organization" means a fraternity, sorority, association, corporation, order, society, corps, cooperative, club, or service, social, or a similar group, whose members are primarily students at an educational institution.
6. "Hazing" means any intentional knowing, or reckless act, occurring on or off the campus of an educational institution, by one person alone or acting with others, directed against a student that endangers the mental or physical health or safety of a student for the purpose of pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization whose members are students at an educational institution. The term includes but is not limited to:
   • any type of physical brutality, such as whipping, beating, striking, branding, electronic shocking, placing of a harmful substance on the body, or similar activity;
   • any type of physical activity, such as sleep deprivation, exposure to the elements, confinement in a small space, calisthenics, or other activity that subjects the student to an unreasonable risk or harm or that adversely affects the mental or physical health or safety of the student;
   • any activity involving consumption of a food, liquid, alcoholic beverage, liquor, drug, or other substance which subjects the student to an unreasonable risk of harm or which adversely effects the mental or physical health or safety of the student;
   • any activity that intimidates or threatens the student with ostracism that subjects the student to extreme mental stress, shame, or humiliation, or that adversely effects the student from entering or remaining registered in an educational institution, or that may reasonably be expected to cause a student to leave the organization or the institution rather than submit to acts described in this subsection;
   • any activity that induces, causes, or requires the student to perform a duty or task which involves a violation of the Penal Code. Sec. 4.52.

Personal Hazing Offense

1. A person commits an offense if the person:
   • engages in hazing;
   • solicits, encourages, directs, aids, or attempts to aid another in engaging in hazing;
   • intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly permits hazing to occur; or
   • has firsthand knowledge of the planning of a specific hazing incident involving a student in an educational institution, or firsthand knowledge that a specific hazing incident has occurred, and knowingly fails to report said knowledge in writing to the Dean of Students or other appropriate officials of the institution.
2. The offense of failing to report is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000, confinement in county jail for not more than 180 days, or both such fine and confinement.
3. Any other offense under this section which does not cause serious bodily injury to another is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $1,000, confinement in county jail for not less than 90 days nor more than 180 days, or both such fine and confinement.
4. Any other offense under this section which causes serious bodily injury to another is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $1,000 nor more than $5,000, confinement in county jail for not less than 180 days nor more than one year, or both such fine and confinement.
5. Any other offense under this section which causes the death of another is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $10,000, confinement in county jail for not less than one year nor more than two years, or both such fine and confinement.
   Except when an offense causes the death of a student in sentencing a person convicted of an offense under this section, the court may require the person to perform community service, subject to the same conditions imposed on community service probationers by Subdivision (1), Subsection (e), and subsections (c), (d), (g), (h) of section 10A. Article 42.12, Code of Criminal Procedure, for an appropriate period of time in lieu of confinement in county jail or in lieu of a part of the time the person is sentenced to confinement in county jail.

Sec. 4.53 Organization Hazing Offense

1. An organization commits an offense if the organization condones or encourages hazing or if an officer or any combination of members, pledges, or alumni of the organization commits or assists in the commission of hazing.
2. An offense under this section is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than $10,000, or if a court finds that the offense caused personal injury, property damage, or other loss. The court may sentence the organization to pay a fine of not less than $5,000 nor more than double the amount loss or expenses incurred because of such injury, damage, or loss.

Sec. 4.54 Consent Not a Defense

It is not a defense to prosecution for the offense under this subchapter that the person against whom the hazing was directed consented to or acquiesced in the hazing activity.