Mental Hazing

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Our Mental and Psychological Hazing Lawyer have over 10 Years Experience Fighting Fraternities

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Hazing has been described as a ritual or other activity whose purpose is to “subject freshmen, newcomers, etc. to abusive or humiliating tricks and ridicule” To anyone who has undergone this “rite of passage,” a better definition of this practice would be a “… humiliating and sometimes dangerous initiation rituals, especially as imposed on college students seeking membership to a fraternity or sorority.”

 

In a typical hazing ritual, the prospective fraternity members are forced to consume things such as dog or cat food, consume large amounts of alcohol, use controlled substances, and perform humiliating acts that usually suggest homosexuality. All these actions are usually performed in an atmosphere where the pledges are subjected to a constant stream of verbal abuse reminding them that they are unworthy of becoming one of the elites of campus society.

 

The long-term consequences of mental or psychological hazing have only recently been recognized by medical and psychological experts. In brief, the complications can range from anxiety to mild depression to suicidal gestures and even to suicide itself. Even if a pledge emerges relatively unscathed from an initiation, there are studies that have linked fraternity members to a higher incidence of sexual offenders, binge drinking, drug abuse, and sado-masochistic behaviors.

 

 

Why Would Someone Voluntarily Undergo Such Abuse?

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At first glance it would seem absurd to subject oneself to such abuse and degradation. The fact that people not only subject themselves to such rituals but they often become enthusiastic tormentors to successive, newer, groups of pledges requires a brief visit to the discipline of social psychology.

 

Sociologists recognize that the “need to belong” to some group that is seen to offer some degree of prestige or social benefit can be a significant force in behaviors that would otherwise be repugnant to the “target” of such behavior (the prospective fraternity member). If the prospective pledge has already formed a positive impression of the fraternity from what he has been told by others, the desire to become a member of what he sees as a prestigious clique that is identified by mysterious letters from the Greek, it is unlikely that he will be deterred from attempting to join by warnings from “outsiders” or anyone else that is not one of the “best and brightest.”

 

 

Liability for Mental or Psychological Hazing

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Mental or psychological hazing is only rarely, if ever, the sole form of abuse in fraternity hazings. It is invariably accompanied by physical abuse, consumption of alcohol or controlled substances to the point of intoxication, forced ingestion of food products that would otherwise be repugnant, and performance of acts that expose the pledge to some degree of physical danger.

 

Determining who is directly liable for damages in cases of mental or psychological is usually straightforward: the fraternity members who organized and/or participated in the initiation ritual. The question then becomes “Who was supposed to be monitoring the fraternity to make sure that the college’s guidelines and any state anti-hazing laws were being followed?” The answer here is the college’s fraternity advisor, but who was supposed to make sure the advisor was doing his or her job?”

 

In reality, there is a “ladder” of liability that reaches from the individual fraternity member to the college administration to the state Board of Regents and to the fraternity’s national headquarters.

 

 

Damages that May be Sought in a Fraternity Mental or Psychological Hazing Lawsuit

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After your initial consultation with a fraternity mental or psychological hazing lawyer and the collection of the readily available information, your lawyer will propose that you seek damages, or compensation, for the consequences of the fraternity’s hazing practices. Although there is some variation among lawsuits, these damages may include:

 

 

• Current medical expenses that are a direct consequence of the hazing

• Current costs of psychotherapy and/or mental health counseling

• The anticipated costs of future medical, therapy, and counseling

• Non-financial damages such as emotional trauma, social shunning, embarrassment, and humiliation

• Punitive damages to be collected from each party found to be liable for causing the injuries suffered by the victim

 

Contacting a Psychological Hazing Lawyer

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If you were subjected to mental or psychological hazing, or if your son was a victim of such deliberate abuse, you should consider contacting a personal injury attorney who has experience in managing mental or psychological hazing cases. Only a personal injury or fraternity hazing accident lawyer will have the knowledge of the law and the resources to successfully obtain justice for your injuries and losses.

 

Every parent lives in fear of a late night phone call from some hospital Emergency Department or a police officer informing them that there son has been involved in an accident. And every parent lives in mortal terror of the call informing them of their son’s death. One of the best ways to end such calls is to hold fraternities and colleges responsible for allowing such practices to continue.