Source: United States House of Representatives – Representative Judy Chu (CA2-27)
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Rep. Judy Chu (CA-28), Rep. Jill Tokuda (HI-02), and Rep. Dan Goldman (NY-10), introduced the Harry Lew and Danny Chen Military Justice Reform Act, which would initiate the process for criminalizing military hazing in the Military Code of Justice. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand will be leading the Senate companion.
The bill is named after Lance Corporal Harry Lew, Rep. Chu’s nephew, and Private Danny Chen, who both endured abuse from military superiors during their deployments to Afghanistan and died by suicide following their attacks. The bill would require the Joint Service Committee on Military Justice (JSC) to conduct an analysis and subsequent report to Congress on whether the Military Code of Justice should contain a standalone crime for hazing.
In 2011, Lance Corporal Harry Lew, a 21-year-old Marine stationed in Afghanistan, endured three and a half hours of “corrective training” by his peers. They berated him, ordered him to dig a foxhole, and forced him to do useless exercises carrying his heavy full body armor and a 25-lb sandbag. For three and a half hours, they stomped on his back, kicked and punched him, and poured the entire contents of a sandbag onto his face and in his mouth. 22 minutes after they stopped, Harry took his own life in the foxhole he had dug with his own gun. He was 21 years old.
Also in 2011, Private Chen endured physical and verbal abuse from his superiors, including racist slurs and violent attacks like being made to crawl over 100 meters of gravel while his comrades threw rocks at him, being dragged across a yard by a superior on his back, and mercilessly kicked by other soldiers. On October 3, 2011, Chen was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his living quarters. He was 19 years old.
“Today, on what would have been Private Chen’s 34th birthday, I have the privilege of introducing the Harry Lew and Danny Chen Military Justice Reform Act,” said Rep. Judy Chu. “I will never forget when I heard about Danny Chen’s suicide, because earlier the same year, my own nephew Harry also committed suicide due to hazing. When I began sharing Harry’s story, I heard from other families across the country whose children also served our country and were victims of hazing. Danny and Harry’s stories are not isolated incidents, but part of a broader culture of military hazing and abuse that we must confront directly. As our current administration threatens to roll back these practices, we must fight to ensure our servicemembers are treated with dignity and respect. This will only make our armed forces stronger. And perhaps most importantly, no family who sends their child to serve this country should ever have to fear that abuse from fellow servicemembers will cost them their life.”
“Danny was many things to us– a son, cousin, nephew, and an American,” said the family of Private Danny Chen. “We will carry on his legacy by supporting a healthier and stronger military in the absence of hazing. Our family does not want anyone to suffer the way Danny did. What was done to Danny and Lance Corporal Harry Lew was brutal and destructive. Danny will never return home to us and we do not want any other family to experience such senseless death from hazing.”
“When our service members take their oath, they commit to defending our nation with their lives. They never sign up to be hazed, bullied, or degraded by their own peers. Congress has a duty to stamp out this mistreatment once and for all,” said Rep. Tokuda. “I am proud to support this legislation to finally establish a standalone military offense for hazing under the Uniformed Code of Military Justice. This ensures we have the oversight and accountability needed to protect those who wear the uniform. This is a critical reform, and I will be fighting to ensure it is included in this year’s National Defense Authorization Act.”
“I am proud to join Representatives Chu and Tokuda in introducing the Harry Lew and Danny Chen Military Justice Reform Act,” said Rep. Goldman. “I am especially honored to co-lead in honor of Private Danny Chen, a young man born and raised in New York’s Chinatown. Danny dedicated his life to protecting those around him. His death, directly caused by ghastly racist hazing by his fellow soldiers, was a tragedy for his family and the wider Chinatown community. We have a responsibility to learn from the failures that led to Danny’s death and to end the culture of abuse that made it possible. Passing this legislation will help protect our servicemembers and prevent tragedies like the deaths of Danny Chen and Harry Lew from ever happening again.”
“Our service members protect us every day, and it is our responsibility to protect them in turn,” said Senator Gillibrand. “We cannot tolerate hazing and abuse that drives our bravest young men and women to take their own lives. I am proud to be introducing this bill to honor the memories of Harry Lew and Danny Chen and bring us one step closer to true accountability for this dangerous and unacceptable behavior.”
The bill is also cosponsored by Reps. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Ro Khanna, Paul Tonko, Lateefah Simon, Chuy Garcia, Rashida Tlaib, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Lloyd Doggett, Debbie Dingell, Sylvia Garcia, Danny Davis, John Garamendi, Stephen Lynch, Andre Carson, and Grace Meng. The bill is endorsed by OCA-Asian Pacific American Advocates.
Rep. Chu has been a champion of efforts to combat hazing in the military throughout her time in Congress. Most recently, she led 27 Members of Congress in a letter to Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth condemning policy directives rolling back the military’s safeguards against hazing and abuse. On September 30, 2025, Secretary Hegseth’s remarks at Marine Corps Base Quantico and subsequent policy memorandums announced sweeping changes to how the military handles allegations of hazing and other forms of abuse.
Rep. Chu called for and testified at the first Congressional hearing on military hazing since 1979. Following that hearing, she introduced the Harry Lew Military Hazing Accountability and Prevention Act, which was enacted as part of the fiscal year (FY) 2013 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). She later secured additional provisions in the FY 2015 NDAA requiring the first ever Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of anti-hazing efforts across the Department of Defense and Coast Guard.
When the GAO report confirmed serious gaps in training, tracking, and accountability, Rep. Chu authored and passed additional NDAA amendments to require annual DOD reporting, uniform data collection, and improved command training to prevent hazing. She previously wrote an Op-Ed in the New York Times reflecting on the death of Private Chen and her nephew, Harry.
Click here to see the full bill text.
If you or a loved one need mental health support, dial 988 to be connected to the National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline 24/7. Counselors can also be reached by text message or online chat. You may also dial 911 or go to your nearest emergency room.