Hazing, initiation, beasting, bastardisation, ragging or deposition refers to any activity expected of someone in joining or participating in a group that humiliates, degrades, abuses, or endangers them regardless of a person's willingness to participate.
Pi Kappa Alpha (ΠΚΑ), commonly known as PIKE, is a college fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1868. The fraternity has over 225 chapters and colonies across the United States and abroad with over 15,500 undergraduate members and over 300,000 lifetime initiates.
Vehicular homicide is a crime that involves the death of a person other than the driver as a result of either criminally negligent or murderous operation of a motor vehicle.
A hybrid offence, dual offence, Crown option offence, dual procedure offence, offence triable either way, or wobbler is one of the special class offences in the common law jurisdictions where the case may be prosecuted either summarily or as indictment. In the United States, an alternative misdemeanor/felony offense lists both county jail and state prison as possible punishment, for example, theft. Similarly, a wobblette is a crime that can be charged either as a misdemeanor or an infraction, for example, in California, violating COVID-19 safety precautions.
Delta Tau Delta (ΔΤΔ) is a United States-based international Greek letter college fraternity. Delta Tau Delta was founded at Bethany College, Bethany, Virginia, in 1858. The fraternity currently has around 130 collegiate chapters and colonies nationwide, with an estimated 10,000 undergraduate members and over 170,000-lifetime members. Delta Tau Delta is informally referred to as "DTD" or "Delt."
Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. (ΚΑΨ) is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed or national origin though membership traditionally is dominated by those of African heritage. The fraternity has over 160,000 members with 721 undergraduate and alumni chapters in every state of the United States, and international chapters in the United Kingdom, Germany, South Korea, Japan, United States Virgin Islands, Nigeria, South Africa, and The Bahamas.
Chi Tau (ΧΤ) was a local fraternity at Chico State University that landed in the media spotlight following the 2005 hazing death of Matthew Carrington.
Sigma Phi Epsilon (ΣΦΕ), commonly known as SigEp, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College, which is now the University of Richmond, and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue, Diligence, and Brotherly Love. Sigma Phi Epsilon is one of the largest social fraternities in the United States in terms of current undergraduate membership.
Tau Kappa Epsilon (ΤΚΕ), commonly known as ΤΚΕ or Teke, is a social college fraternity founded on January 10, 1899, at Illinois Wesleyan University. The organization has chapters throughout the United States and Canada, making the Fraternity an international organization. Since its founding in 1899, Tau Kappa Epsilon Fraternity has never had an exclusionary or discriminatory clause to prevent individuals from joining and has instead admitted members based on their "personal worth and character". As of spring 2023, there are 218 active ΤΚΕ chapters and colonies with over 297,000 lifetime members.
Pi Delta Psi (ΠΔΨ) is an Asian American-interest cultural fraternity founded at Binghamton University on February 20, 1994. As of 2020, the organization listed over 3,000-lifetime members spanning 30 undergraduate chapters and 1 alumni chapter.
In the United States, each state and territory sets the age of consent either by statute or the common law applies, and there are several federal statutes related to protecting minors from sexual predators. Depending on the jurisdiction, the legal age of consent is between 16 and 18. In some places, civil and criminal laws within the same state conflict with each other.
In the United States, the law for murder varies by jurisdiction. In many US jurisdictions there is a hierarchy of acts, known collectively as homicide, of which first-degree murder and felony murder are the most serious, followed by second-degree murder and, in a few states, third-degree murder, which in other states is divided into voluntary manslaughter, and involuntary manslaughter such as reckless homicide and negligent homicide, which are the least serious, and ending finally in justifiable homicide, which is not a crime. However, because there are at least 52 relevant jurisdictions, each with its own criminal code, this is a considerable simplification.
A veterans' court is a "special court" which is charged with trying cases of minor offenses which involve veterans, particularly those diagnosed with service-related illnesses. The first veterans' court was established in 2008 in Buffalo, New York, and has been used as a model for establishments of other veterans' courts in other parts of the United States. There are questions, however, about the judicial system allowing a "special class." Although the court only deals with misdemeanors, the prosecutors and judges can choose to allow defendants to agree to plead guilty to a misdemeanor, thus reducing the charges.
Manslaughter is a crime in the United States. Definitions can vary among jurisdictions, but manslaughter is invariably the act of causing the death of another person in a manner less culpable than murder. Three types of unlawful killings constitute manslaughter. First, there is voluntary manslaughter which is an intentional homicide committed in "sudden heat of passion" as the result of adequate provocation. Second, there is the form of involuntary manslaughter which is an unintentional homicide that was committed in a criminally negligent manner. Finally, there is the form of involuntary manslaughter which is an unintentional homicide that occurred during the commission or attempted commission of an unlawful act which does not amount to a felony.
Expungement in the United States is a process which varies across jurisdictions. Many states allow for criminal records to be sealed or expunged, although laws vary by state. Some states do not permit expungement, or allow expungement under very limited circumstances. In general, once sealed or expunged, all records of an arrest and of any subsequent court proceedings are removed from the public record, and the individual may legally deny or fail to acknowledge ever having been arrested for or charged with any crime which has been expunged.
Timothy John Piazza died as the result of hazing at the Beta Theta Pi fraternity at Pennsylvania State University at University Park, Pennsylvania. The incident led to closure of the fraternity's chapter at the university, and at least 26 members of the fraternity had charges of involuntary manslaughter dropped by a presiding judge.
The Texas Penal Code is the principal criminal code of the U.S. state of Texas. It was originally enacted in 1856 and underwent substantial revision in 1973, with the passage of the Revised Penal Code, in large part based on the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code.
As one of the fifty states of the United States, California follows common law criminal procedure. The principal source of law for California criminal procedure is the California Penal Code, Part 2, "Of Criminal Procedure."
The Andrew Coffey lawsuit involved the death of a young man who was killed in November 2017 during a fraternity event, triggering an anti-hazing movement in Florida. On November 3, 2017, Florida State University junior Andrew Coffey was killed by acute alcohol poisoning after participating in Big Brother Night, a fraternity event hosted by Pi Kappa Phi. Coffey was found unresponsive on a couch the morning after the event, and his death became part of a national wave of criticism of fraternity hazing practices. Members of the fraternity were eventually prosecuted for their role in Andrew Coffey's death, with three former fraternity leaders awaiting trial as of December 2018.
Stone Justin Foltz, a sophomore Bowling Green State University (BGSU) student, died of alcohol intoxication three days after attending a Pi Kappa Alpha new member initiation event held at an off-campus house. On April 29, 2021, eight men were indicted for hazing, six of whom were further charged with manslaughter in connection with the event.
