10 U.S.C. § 8464: Hazing: definition; prohibition

In this chapter, the term “hazing” means any unauthorized assumption of authority by a midshipman whereby another midshipman suffers or is exposed to any cruelty, indignity, humiliation, hardship, or oppression, or the deprivation or abridgement of any right. The Superintendent of the Naval Academy shall prescribe regulations, to be approved by the Secretary of the Navy, to prevent hazing. Hazing is an offense that may be dealt with as an offense against good order and discipline or as a violation of the regulations of the Naval Academy. However, no midshipman may be dismissed for a single act of hazing except by sentence of a court-martial. The finding and sentence of a court-martial of a midshipman for hazing shall be reviewed in the manner prescribed for general court-martial cases. A midshipman who is sentenced to imprisonment for hazing may not be confined with persons who have been convicted of crimes or misdemeanors. A midshipman who is dismissed from the Academy for hazing may not be reappointed as a midshipman or be appointed as a commissioned officer in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or Space Force until two years after the graduation of the class of which he was a member.