US lawmakers Thursday called for congressional hearings into hazing in the military while urging an end to "institutional" abuse that has led to suicides among soldiers.

Representative Judy Chu -- whose Marine nephew, Lance Corporal Harry Lew, committed suicide in Afghanistan last year some 20 minutes after enduring severe hazing by fellow Marines -- said "enough was enough" as she called for public hearings on what the military is doing to stop the abuse.

"The highest military officers must make eliminating hazing a top priority," she said at a press conference.

Top military leaders "must stop pretending there is no problem," she said, adding, "None of this will change until the Secretary of Defense commits to eradicate the culture of hazing that is so ingrained within our troops."

Chu said she and fellow lawmakers had reached out to Pentagon chief Leon Panetta to discuss the issue, but had yet to hear back from his office.

A Marine investigation said Lew, 21, committed suicide last year after a hazing that included Marines pouring sand in his mouth, kicking him and punching him.

Chu, however, said the military was attempting to "sweep the issue under the rug" after a ruling Monday that found hazing was not considered an issue in Lew's death, which occurred after he endured three hours of abuse when he was found asleep at his post.

The accused fellow Marine, Lance Corporal Jacob Jacoby, was sentenced Monday to 30 days confinement as the judge in the case said she found no evidence the abuse Lew endured led to the suicide.

The "hand slap sentencing" of Jacoby showed that the system the Pentagon has in place to deal with hazing "does not work," lawmaker Mike Honda said Thursday, adding that Lew's death was an "urgent call to action."

Honda said the Department of Defense needed to ensure it had "effective diversity training and stricter enforcement policies" that protects US service members "no matter their background."

The lawmakers pushed for both the House Armed Services Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to look at ways that the military can prevent hazing.

Last month, the 13 House members of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, which Chu heads, had also sent a letter calling on the House Armed Services Committee to hold formal hearings.

In the letter, the group said they were "shocked" some military services do not keep records on hazing and do not have policies to determine whether their anti-hazing training is effective.

In another recent incident related to hazing, 19-year-old private Danny Chen, stationed in Kandahar, Afghanistan, shot himself after enduring nearly daily harassment including slurs related to his Chinese heritage.

The Pentagon has portrayed the cases as isolated incidents and not part of a larger trend of racial discrimination.

Eight troops were charged over Chen's death, which led the military's top officer, General Martin Dempsey, to warn the forces against hazing and call the practice "simply intolerable.

"It undermines our values, tarnishes our profession, and erodes the trust that bonds us," Dempsey, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in December.

"Every service member should be aware that participating in hazing or even observing it without reporting it are both wrong. We are duty bound to protect one another from hazing in any form."