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 Vermont, hazing is explicitly prohibited and considered a criminal offense under state law. Vermont's anti-hazing statute, 16 V.S.A. § 140a, defines hazing as any act committed by a person, whether individually or in concert with others, against a student in connection with pledging, being initiated into, affiliating with, holding office in, or maintaining membership in any organization that is affiliated with an educational institution, and which is intended to have the effect of or should reasonably be expected to have the effect of humiliating, intimidating, or demeaning the student or endangering the mental or physical health of the student. The law includes a variety of acts that could constitute hazing, similar to those described in the topic. Vermont law requires secondary schools and postsecondary institutions to adopt policies prohibiting hazing and to provide enforcement procedures. If hazing results in bodily injury, individuals may face criminal charges, which can range from a fine to imprisonment, depending on the severity of the injury caused.