This bill could allow people who file civil lawsuits after someone dies from hazing to collect more in penalty payments.
A bill that won passage in the Louisiana Senate Wednesday (March 28) could allow people who file civil lawsuits after someone dies from hazing to collect more in penalty payments.
Senate Bill 91 earned favorable passage after senators voted 28-3 for the proposed law. The measure now heads to the House.
Sponsored by State Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, the bill would allow for punitive damages to be awarded if there is proof the death of a person was caused by the wanton and reckless disregard for the rights and safety of the person through hazing, regardless of whether the defendant was prosecuted for his acts.
The current maximum penalty for hazing is 30 days in jail and a $100 fine. Violators are also expelled from their school, and anyone found guilty of hazing is barred from returning to the school during the „term in which the violation occurs,“ according to state law. When Claitor sought to get his bill passed favorably during a Senate committee hearing March 20, he stressed that he hopes the bill will change student conduct.
„The criminal penalty that we have now hasn’t changed any conduct,“ Claitor said.
Claitor’s bill is among a handful of anti-hazing bills sponsored by Louisiana lawmakers after 18-year-old Maxwell Gruver died from alcohol poisoning and aspiration after a night of fraternity rituals at Phi Delta Theta at Louisiana State University last September. Since then, four of the 10 men arrested in connection with Gruver’s death have been indicted by a grand jury in Baton Rouge.
„I want to change the behavior. I want there never to be another instance of a kid that dies in a hazing accident,“ Claitor added.
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Wilborn P. Nobles III is an education reporter based in New Orleans. He can be reached at wnobles@nola.com or on Twitter at @WilNobles .
