Social Host Liability: Looking at Changing Policy to Reduce Underage Drinking At Home Parties
There are certain strategies to consider when it comes to keeping teens safe and alcohol free. This includes increasing enforcement of underage drinking laws by the Police Department as well as considering enacting policies such as a Social Host Ordinance to further prevent drinking parties from occurring.
Social host accountability refers to laws that hold non-commercial individuals responsible for parties where underage drinking occurs on property they own, lease or control. Whereas laws prohibiting furnishing alcoholic beverages to underage persons target providing alcoholic beverages to underage persons, social host laws target providing the venue where underage drinking occurs. (Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy, Ventura County Behavioral Health, 2005)
A Social Host Ordinance with an emphasis on nuisance abatement usually entails the following features:
Acknowledges that law enforcement, fire, or other emergency services often need to respond multiple times to underage drinking parties, resulting in an over-expenditure of public safety resources, delaying police responses to other situations and reducing police services to the rest of the community; and
Recognizes that cities and counties require a variety of enforcement strategies to stop underage drinking parties under varying circumstances and that present policy hinders the ability of law enforcement to deter underage drinking parties; and
Recognizes that loud parties on private property where alcohol is served to, or consumed by minors is harmful, a threat to public health, safety, quiet enjoyment of residential property, general welfare and constitutes as a public nuisance; and finally,
Acknowledges property owners or adults who otherwise control property in which a party is occurring, have a duty to ensure that alcohol is not served to, or consumed by, underage persons.
Generally, there are both criminal and civil penalties with Social Host Ordinances. Penalties for criminal infractions usually result in a ticket at the scene of a party. Civil fines may be part of such ordinances, which means the property owner may also be responsible for recovery of costs associated with law enforcement, fire, or other emergency services on multiple occasions to the scene of a party where alcoholic beverages are served to, or consumed by, underage individuals.
Recommendations for Action
To address underage binge drinking by addressing the availability of alcohol at house parties and the social norms which perpetuates such behavior, the Sonoma Valley Coalition calls for a broader responsibility beyond young people, parents and schools including:
Signing the Parent/Community Pledge to host alcohol-free teen parties which are available by contacting the Coalition Coordinator.
Supporting other strategies to reduce instances of teen drinking parties, such as the adoption of a Social Host Ordinance to create adult accountability for hosting teen parties that create public nuisances and threats to public safety.
Supporting the work of the police department in enforcing underage drinking laws.
“Many communities have used it as a way to deter and control underage drinking and put responsibility back on homeowners and parents.”
-Bret Sackett, Chief of Police, Sonoma Police Department
Access to Alcohol at House Parties
In a 2008 survey of Sonoma Valley youth and adults, 31% say that youth are able to easily access alcohol at home parties. Furthermore, youth indicated that house parties are very common in the Valley. On average, there are between three to four parties occurring every week, some on the larger scale with smaller gatherings (less than 20 people) more frequent.
Underage drinking at house parties not only put the health and safety of youth at risk but have consequences for the community as well, including: vandalism, litter, property damage, violence, injuries due to car crashes and other traumas. Underage drinking also causes a significant drain on public services through increased calls for service to the police, emergency medical services, health care costs, criminal justice costs and substance abuse treatment (Sonoma County Prevention and Planning Assessment, 2006).
Myths of Underage Drinking
Many Sonoma Valley adults dismiss underage drinking as a “rite of passage.” This tolerance stems from two misconceptions:
Alcohol is a relatively harmless substance compared to illegal drugs, in addition to drinking as an inevitable activity for teens; it’s consumption is part of the transition to adulthood.
Reality: Alcohol kills more teens every year than all illegal drugs combined. Youth today engage in extremely risky drinking patterns, also known as binge drinking. Underage binge drinking leads to many consequences including: irreversible brain damage; problems at school and with friends; violent crimes, including sexual assault; alcohol poisoning; driving under the influence; suicide; and homicide. Teens who drink are also four times more likely to be dependent on alcohol later in life.
Permitting consumption of alcoholic beverages in a residential setting is safer because impaired driving can be limited and some form of parental oversight is available in case of an emergency.
Reality: Parties where alcohol is made readily available to teens can become out of control and turn tragic in an instant. In a 2008 survey of Sonoma teens, 61% of teens say parents are never present at parties where drinking occurs. Also, the belief that it is safer to let teens drink at home so they won’t drink and drive is misleading as well. Permission to use at home is permission to use anywhere.
Seriously, you guys think that by starting this website and passing this ordinance you are going to change anything. I used to live in Sonoma and I am currently a college student at UCSC. They have a party ordinance here that flags houses and gives tickets over $1,000 dollars for throwing parties. After this ordinance was enacted, I did not see any change in peoples drinking habits, only an increase in unnecessary fines. If you really want to end under aged drinking, you shouldn’t blame the people but the corporations who promote under aged drinking and spend millions of dollars to make it seem cool every day.
On another note, I think it is completely hypocritical that a community whose income relies solely on SELLING alcohol to drunken tourists and the world would even try to pass something like this.
Regardless of the drinking age, you have to realize that people are shaped by their surroundings, and kids seeing their parents be heavy wine drinkers, as the majority of Sonoma’s community is, are going to want to follow this pattern. Not only that, but what were you people doing when you were a teenager? I am sure that the majority of you who created this site were doing the same thing. Again one word, hypocritical.
Some people do take drinking out of hand, but by having any substance semi-legalized, this is going to be a given. And yes, more cases of alcohol abuse are apparently prevalent because people feel comfortable checking the box that says do you drink in those anonymous high school surveys because it is a semi-legal drug.
Let me ask this question. Why do the majority of people in the world drink? Although there is no real justifiable answer for this, there is irrefutable facts that show that people are going to drink. If this is the case, why not promote responsibility in your kids. By drinking 4 glasses of chardonnay every night and then going out the next day and talking about drinking like it is the root of all evil is not only contradictory, but it also discredits your authority over your kids. So smarten up people, promote safety, not ignorance. Because we should have learned for the War on Drugs in the U.S. that has been going on for over thirty years, and had billions of dollars wasted on it that any war on drugs is a war that you can never win.
This same comment was submitted three times by the following:
*student
anonymous
anonymous
three different emails so we will assume it is three different people with the same thought and we would like to give credit where credit is due. Thank you for your contribution.
~SVCPUAD
Will you please respond to the comment above instead of listing useless facts?
Please come to our meeting on Thursday, December 17 at 5:30PM at the Valley of the Moon Teen Center. If you cannot make this meeting, please contact the Coalition Coordinator to set up an appointment to discuss your concerns face to face.
Thanks so much and have a lovely day!
SVCPUAD