Rhode Island Hazing Law

§ 11-21-1. Penalty for hazing


   (a) Any organizer of, or participant in, an activity constituting hazing as defined in subsection (b), shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500) or punished by imprisonment for not less than thirty (30) days nor more than one year, or both.

(b) The term "hazing," as used in this chapter, shall mean any conduct or method of initiation into any student organization, whether on public or private property, which willfully or recklessly endangers the physical or mental health of any student or other person. Such conduct shall include, but not be limited to, whipping, beating, branding, forced calisthenics, exposure to the weather, forced consumption of any food, liquor, beverage, drug, or other substance, or any brutal treatment or forced physical activity which is likely to adversely affect the physical health or safety of the student or any other person, or which subjects the student or other person to extreme mental stress, including extended deprivation of sleep or rest or extended isolation.
§ 11-21-2. Penalty for school official permitting hazing


   Every person, being a teacher, superintendent, commandant, or other person in charge of any public, private, parochial, or military school, college or other educational institution, who shall knowingly permit any activity constituting hazing, as defined in § 11-21-1, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than one hundred dollars ($100).