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Named the “Timothy Piazza Anti-Hazing Law” after a Penn State
freshman who died during hazing activities at the Beta Theta Pi
fraternity house in February 2017, the bill unanimously passed
the Legislature.
“It’s a really big deal, a real change in landscape,” said Tom
Kline, a Philadelphia lawyer who has represented the Piazza
family since their son’s death. “It’s about deterrence, and
changing Greek life.” The family declined to comment through
their lawyer.
The law also allows the seizing of fraternity houses involved in
hazing incidents, a provision that could make the Pennsylvania
law tougher than Florida’s, which also provides for felony
charges, said Tracy Maxwell, founder of Hazing Prevention, a
national group.
Florida's statute was previously considered the toughest of the
existing 44 state anti-hazing laws.
“It doesn’t matter how tough the law is if local prosecutors
don’t have the stomach to enforce it,” Maxwell said.
Timothy Piazza of Lebanon, New Jersey, died of head and spleen
injuries suffered while drunkenly falling multiple times,
including twice down a flight of stairs, during hazing
activities at the fraternity house. He was 19 years old. Much of
it was captured on video.
Authorities have said that the fraternity brothers waited for
hours before calling for medical help. The new law would create
a "safe haven" that would exempt fraternity members from
prosecution if they call police or emergency responders.
Stacy Parks Miller, the former Centre County prosecutor who
tried but failed to get jail time for some of the Beta Theta Pi
members, said she was concerned that the new law had been
hastily written and may cause problems for prosecutors.
“While I am very pleased to see a new felony for cases like
Tim's, I am concerned there is now less leverage for
prosecutions for the more commonplace hazing cases,” Miller told
Reuters. The new law requires prosecutors to prove that force or
coercion was used to make victims participate in the hazing.
At least two other hazing-related deaths have occurred in
Pennsylvania in the past five years.
Chen “Michael” Deng died in 2013 when he was 19 from injuries
received during a hazing ritual by the Baruch College chapter of
Pi Delta Psi at a house in the Poconos. Four fraternity members
received two-year prison terms and more than 30 others received
probation.
Marquise Braham, a student at Penn State’s Altoona campus,
committed suicide in 2014 at the age of 18 after allegedly
suffering a mental breakdown because of hazing by the Phi Sigma
Kappa fraternity.
“I think it’s a strong law,” said Rich Braham, an ABC News
producer who is Marquise’s father. “It’s a much better law than
existing law and will save student lives."
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