Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73
§8464 Hazing: definition; prohibition
Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle C— - Navy and Marine Corps › Part PART III— - EDUCATION AND TRAINING › Chapter CHAPTER 853— - UNITED STATES NAVAL ACADEMY › § 8464
Summary
Makes hazing illegal at the Naval Academy and requires the Superintendent, with the Secretary of the Navy’s approval, to write rules to stop it. Hazing means a midshipman wrongly uses authority over another midshipman and causes cruelty, humiliation, hardship, or loss of rights. Hazing can be punished under Academy rules or as a disciplinary offense. Only a court-martial can dismiss a midshipman for a single hazing act, and those convictions get the same review as other general court-martials. If jailed for hazing, a midshipman must not be held with convicted criminals. A dismissed midshipman cannot be reappointed or become an officer in the armed forces until two years after the graduation of the class of which he was a member.
Full Legal Text
Title 10, §8464
Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
(a)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.
(b)The Superintendent of the Naval Academy shall prescribe regulations, to be approved by the Secretary of the Navy, to prevent hazing.
(c)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.
(d)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.
(e)A midshipman who is sentenced to imprisonment for hazing may not be confined with persons who have been convicted of crimes or misdemeanors.
(f)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.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 6964(a)34 U.S.C. 1064.Apr. 9, 1906, ch. 1370, § 4, 34 Stat. 105. 6964(b)34 U.S.C. 1063.Mar. 3, 1903, ch. 1010, 32 Stat. 1198 (1st 28 words of 1st proviso). 6964(c)34 U.S.C. 1065.Apr. 9, 1906, ch. 1370, § 2 (last 54 words), 34 Stat. 104. 6964(d), (e)34 U.S.C. 1066.
June 23, 1874, ch. 453, 18 Stat. 203; Mar. 3, 1903, ch. 1010, 32 Stat. 1198 (29th to 49th word of 1st proviso); Apr. 9, 1906, ch. 1370, § 3, 34 Stat. 104;
May 5, 1950, ch. 169, § 11, 64 Stat. 146. 6964(f)34 U.S.C. 1067.Mar. 3, 1903, ch. 1010, 32 Stat. 1198 (last 43 words of 1st proviso). In subsection (a) the words “privilege, or advantage to which he shall legally be entitled” are omitted as surplusage, since they are covered by the word “right”. The definition in this subsection is made applicable throughout the chapter to cover § 6965 of this title, since the reference in that section to hazing was also derived from the act which is the source for this subsection. In subsection (b) the words “prescribe
Regulations
* * * to prevent hazing” are substituted for the words “make such rules * * * as will effectually prevent the practice of hazing”. In subsection (c) the words “dealt with” are substituted for the words “proceeded against, dealt with, and punished”. The word “
Regulations
” is substituted for the word “rules” for uniformity and the words “and breaches” are omitted as surplusage. The words “except by sentence of a court-martial” are substituted for the words “except under the provisions of section three of this Act” because § 3 of the source statute provided for a Naval Academy court-martial with special provisions for handling cases involving hazing. The enactment of the Uniform Code of Military Justice made midshipmen at the Naval Academy subject to the same military law which applies generally to the naval service, thereby superseding the special type of court-martial for midshipmen. A court-martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice has the power to sentence anyone convicted by it to dismissal if authorized by the Table of Maximum Punishments. In subsections (d) and (e) all that part of the source text preceding the proviso is omitted as superseded by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The words “in a military or naval prison or elsewhere” are omitted as surplusage.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2021—Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 116–283 substituted “Marine Corps, or Space Force” for “or Marine Corps”. 2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 6964 of this title as this section. 1989—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 101–189 inserted “, the term” after “In this chapter”. 1985—Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 99–145 substituted “persons” for “men”.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of
Amendments
and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
10 U.S.C. § 8464
Title 10 — Armed Forces
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73