Hazing generally includes mistreatment of students or other persons (pledges or plebes) in a ritualistic or tradition-based way that must be endured by the prospective members to gain admission to a group, club, or organization. The members doing the hazing often attempt to justify these hazing practices by referring to them as a rite of passage or rationalizing that all current members had to endure it and new prospective members should as well.

Hazing can take many forms, including:

• Requiring victims to act as a personal servant to senior (older) group members

• Forcing victims to binge drink or consume large amounts of alcohol or drugs

• Requiring victims to engage in embarrassing acts, such as wearing a costume or sign around their neck in public

• Depriving victims of sleep, food, or the ability to use the restroom

• Prohibiting victims from associating with family, friends, or other persons

• Swearing or yelling insults at victims.

Most schools have policies against hazing and in many states hazing may be prosecuted as a criminal offense if it results in bodily injury.

In Ohio, hazing is addressed under Ohio Revised Code Section 2903.31, which defines hazing as any act that is required for someone to be initiated into or to maintain membership in any student or other organization that can cause mental or physical harm to the student or other person. This includes, but is not limited to, forced consumption of alcohol or drugs, sleep deprivation, or humiliation. Ohio's laws make it clear that consent of the victim is not a defense for hazing. Furthermore, Ohio has enacted 'Collin's Law' which enhances the penalties for hazing and expands the definition to include 'coercing another to consume alcohol or a drug of abuse.' Educational institutions in Ohio are required to have policies against hazing, and violations can lead to criminal charges ranging from a fourth-degree misdemeanor to a third-degree felony, depending on the severity of the injury caused by the hazing incident. Additionally, Ohio law requires schools to provide educational programming on hazing.