187228 Coast-to-Coast, Responsible Hosts: The Nationwide Movement to End Underage Drinking Parties

Tuesday, October 28, 2008: 3:42 PM

Stacy L. Saetta, JD , Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Felton, CA
Ryan D. Treffers, JD , PIRE-Santa Cruz Office, Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, Santa Cruz, CA
     
Across the nation, cities and counties are passing social host liability ordinances at an unprecedented rate to prevent individuals from allowing private residences and other private property to be used for underage drinking parties and other gatherings. Social networking technology highlights the problems and consequences of underage drinking gatherings and the necessity for the enactment of these local laws. Cities and counties are evaluating the effectiveness of these ordinances and beginning to observe the impact these laws are having on the number of underage gatherings and the behavior of party hosts, landlords/tenants, both adults and persons under 21.

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss the success of cities and counties in the United States in passing and enforcing social host liability ordinances. 2. Identify regional trends in the United States in the passage and enforcement of social host liability ordinances. 3. Evaluate whether enforcing social host liability ordinances is effective in reducing the number of underage drinking gatherings and in reducing social access to alcohol by persons under 21. 4. Assess whether penalties for unlawful social hosting should be criminal rather than civil, or vice versa.

Keywords: Alcohol, Policy/Policy Development

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Since graduating law school, I have been working as a legal policy researcher in the field of public health and alcohol laws. My work has focused on establishing best practices and how to best put it into law.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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