Kentucky
Kentucky Senate approves bill to allow jail time for hazing charges
The Kentucky Senate voted Thursday to carve out a brand new crime that would punish hazing with jail time, responding to requires motion following the demise of a college scholar.
The invoice would create a felony crime for hazing that ends in the demise or severe harm of a scholar. The offense could be punishable by as much as 5 years in jail. Additionally underneath the invoice, somebody accused of recklessly partaking in hazing would face a misdemeanor cost, punishable by as much as a yr in jail.
The invoice received Senate passage on a 27-7 vote, sending the proposal to the Home.
Republican Sen. Robby Mills, the invoice’s lead sponsor, mentioned the objective is to save lots of lives.
“For much too lengthy, hazing has been this awkward ceremony of passage in Kentucky that many nonetheless refuse to acknowledge is unsuitable,” Mills mentioned. “We consider the elevation of hazing to against the law addresses head-on the seriousness of those actions. It lets college students know that Kentucky values scholar security.”
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The Kentucky Senate authorised a invoice to create a felony offense to punish faculty college students for hazing.
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The invoice cleared a Senate committee lately after listening to from the household of Thomas “Lofton” Hazelwood, an 18-year-old freshman on the College of Kentucky.
Tracey Hazelwood, the coed’s mom, advised lawmakers that after he pledged to a fraternity, her son needed to take part in unlawful acts that “might have gotten him kicked out of college” with the intention to belong to the fraternity, the Lexington Herald-Chief reported. On the night time he died, she mentioned, his blood alcohol focus was 0.354. The authorized restrict for adults to drive is 0.08.
The invoice defines hazing as endangering the psychological or bodily well being of a scholar for recruitment, initiation into or affiliation with a company, or to reinforce or preserve standing inside a bunch. It might embody consuming alcohol, tobacco or meals to the extent that it places somebody susceptible to harm, or such “bodily brutality” as whipping, beating or branding or publicity to the weather.