Law Enforcement Influences on Underage Drinking

Many current initiatives to reduce and prevent underage drinking involve focused law enforcement efforts. These activities may include compliance checks, sobriety checkpoints, DUI emphasis patrols, citing youth for use of false identification, and citing youth for purchase and/or possession of alcohol. However, there is relativity little evidence on the impact of these methods, either singly or in combination, on rates of youth drinking within populations. Using cross-sectional data from the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Randomized Community Trial, we examine the relationship between law enforcement practices and alcohol purchase attempts and binge drinking by youth. Data on binge drinking and purchase attempts are from a telephone survey of 5317 youth, age 14 through 20, living in 68 communities across five states participating in the EUDL community trial (CA, CT, FL, MO, NY). Data on law enforcement practices were obtained from a telephone and mailed survey of law enforcement agencies in these same 68 communities. The generalized estimating equations approach (GEE) was used for analysis. After adjustment for age and gender, youth living in communities with a greater number of businesses fined (OR=0.7), clerks cited (OR=0.7) and sobriety checkpoints (OR=0.8) showed a significantly lower risk of binge drinking (p<.05). A greater number of clerks cited (OR=0.7), DUI emphasis patrols (OR=0.7), citations for false identification (OR=0.6) and citations for purchase, possession and use (OR=0.5) were associated with a significantly lower risk of past 30-day purchase attempts. These results provide preliminary evidence of the association between law enforcement operations and underage drinking.