I 
112TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 5344 
To prevent and respond to hazing incidents involving members of the Armed 
Forces, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 7, 2012 
Ms. CHU (for herself, Mr. CUMMINGS, and Mr. HONDA) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services 
A BILL 
To prevent and respond to hazing incidents involving 
members of the Armed Forces, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. COMPREHENSIVE ARMED FORCES POLICY ON 
PREVENTION AND RESPONSE TO HAZING IN-
VOLVING MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES. 
(a) HAZING DEFINED.—The Secretary of Defense, in 
consultation with the Secretaries of the military depart-
ments and the Secretary of Homeland Security (with re-
spect to the Coast Guard), shall assess and develop a uni-
form definition of hazing applicable to members of the 
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Armed Forces for inclusion in the Uniform Code of Mili-
tary Justice. The Secretary of Defense shall submit the 
definition to the designated congressional committees not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. It is the sense of Congress that the definition should 
cover, at a minimum, any situation in which a member 
of the Armed Forces suffers, or is exposed to, any cruelty, 
indignity, humiliation, hardship, harm, harassment, or op-
pression, or the deprivation or abridgement of any right 
by another member of the Armed Forces. 
(b) COMPREHENSIVE ARMED FORCES POLICY RE-
QUIRED.— 
(1) POLICY
REQUIRED.—Not later than one 
year after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 
Secretary of Defense, in consultation with the Secre-
taries of the military departments and the Secretary 
of Homeland Security, shall develop and implement 
a comprehensive policy on the prevention of and re-
sponse to hazing involving members of the Armed 
Forces. 
(2) CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS.— 
In developing this policy, the Secretaries shall con-
sider the recommendations made and findings of the 
Inspectors General of the Department of Defense 
and the Department of Homeland Security in re-
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ports investigating hazing involving members of the 
Armed Forces and the recommendations of the 
Comptroller General of the United States under sub-
section (e). 
(3) USE OF DEFINITION.—The policy shall re-
flect the comprehensive definition of hazing deter-
mined pursuant to subsection (a). 
(c) INFORMATION
DATABASE
ON
HAZING
INCI-
DENTS.— 
(1) DATABASE
REQUIRED.—The Secretary of 
Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security 
shall develop and implement a centralized, case-level 
database for the collection and maintenance of infor-
mation regarding hazing involving a member of the 
Armed Services, including hazing incidents occurring 
at officer candidate schools, military academies, mili-
tary academy preparatory schools, and basic training 
and professional schools for enlisted members. The 
collection and maintenance of information in the 
database shall be conducted in a manner consistent 
with Department of Defense and the Department of 
Homeland Security regulations for restricted report-
ing. 
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(2) SCOPE OF DATABASE.—The database shall 
provide the following information with respect to 
each Armed Force: 
(A) Description of each hazing complaint. 
(B) Substantiated incidents of hazing. 
(C) The nature and date of the hazing. 
(D) The victim, including race, gender, 
and rank. 
(E) The alleged offender, including race, 
gender, and rank. 
(F) The branch and division in which the 
hazing incident occurred, along with whether it 
took place during a contingency operation. 
(G) Actions taken to resolve hazing, in-
cluding disciplinary action, transfer of an of-
fender as a result or related to the offense, and 
training, policy, and internal guideline changes 
to address hazing. 
(H) The outcome of any legal proceedings 
in connection with the hazing. 
(3) IMPLEMENTATION.— 
(A) PLAN
FOR
IMPLEMENTATION.—Not 
later than 90 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary of Defense and 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall sub-
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mit to the designated congressional committees 
a plan to provide for the implementation of the 
database. 
(B) RELATION
TO
DEFENSE
INCIDENT- 
BASED
REPORTING
SYSTEM.—Not later than 
180 days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to 
the designated congressional committees a re-
port containing— 
(i) a description of the current status 
of the Defense Incident-Based Reporting 
System; and 
(ii) an explanation of how the Defense 
Incident-Based Reporting System will re-
late to the database. 
(C) COMPLETION.—Not later than 15 
months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary 
of Homeland Security shall complete implemen-
tation of the database. 
(d) ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIREMENT.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—The database required by 
subsection (c) shall be used to develop and imple-
ment an annual congressional report. 
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(2) REPORTS REQUIRED.—Not later than Janu-
ary 15 of each year, the Secretary of Defense and 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall submit to 
the designated congressional committees a report on 
the hazing incidents involving members of the 
Armed Forces during the preceding year. 
(3) ELEMENTS.—Each report shall include the 
following: 
(A) An assessment by the Secretaries of 
the implementation during the preceding year 
of the policies and procedures of each Armed 
Force on the prevention of and response to haz-
ing involving members of the Armed Forces in 
order to determine the effectiveness of such 
policies and procedures. 
(B) Data on the number of alleged and 
substantiated hazing incidents within each 
Armed Force that occurred that year, including 
the race, gender and Armed Force of the victim 
and offender, the nature of the hazing, and ac-
tions taken to resolve and address the hazing. 
(e) COMPTROLLER GENERAL REPORT.— 
(1) REPORT
REQUIRED.—Not later than one 
year after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Comptroller General of the United States shall sub-
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mit to the designated congressional committees a re-
port on the policies to prevent hazing and systems 
initiated to track incidents of hazing in each of the 
Armed Forces, including officer cadet schools, mili-
tary 
academies, 
military 
academy 
preparatory 
schools, and basic training and professional schools 
for enlisted members. 
(2) ELEMENTS.—The report required by para-
graph (1) shall include the following: 
(A) An evaluation of the definition of haz-
ing developed under subsection (a). 
(B) A description of the criteria used, and 
the methods implemented, in the systems to 
track incidents of hazing in the Armed Forces. 
(C) An assessment of the following: 
(i) The scope of hazing in each Armed 
Force. 
(ii) The policies in place and the 
training on hazing provided to members 
throughout the course of their careers for 
each Armed Force. 
(iii) The actions taken to mitigate 
hazing incidents in each Armed Force. 
(iv) The effectiveness of the training 
and policies in place regarding hazing. 
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(v) The number of alleged and sub-
stantiated incidents of hazing over the last 
five years for each Armed Force, the na-
ture of these cases and actions taken to 
address such matters through non-judicial 
and judicial action. 
(D) An evaluation of the additional ac-
tions, if any, the Secretary of Defense and the 
Secretary of Homeland Security propose to take 
to further address the incidence of hazing in 
the Armed Forces. 
(E) Such recommendations as the Comp-
troller General considers appropriate for im-
proving hazing prevention programs, policies, 
and other actions taken to address hazing with-
in the Armed Forces. 
(f) DESIGNATED CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DE-
FINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘designated congres-
sional committees’’ means— 
(1) the Committee on Armed Services, the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 
and the Committee on Commerce, Science and 
Transportation of the Senate; and 
(2) the Committee on Armed Services, the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, 
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