Social Host Liability: Preventing Underage Drinking Parties James F. Mosher, JD Alcohol Policy Consultations March 6, 2012

Transcription

1 Social Host Liability: Preventing Underage Drinking Parties James F. Mosher, JD Alcohol Policy Consultations March 6, 2012 Workshop presentation at the 7 th Annual Summit on Substance Abuse, Mental Health and School Safety/Discipline, Georgia Council on Substance Abuse, Callaway Gardens, Lodge & Spa Conference Center

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3 Drinking Locations by Age Group, Source: National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2010

4 Mean Number of Drinks Number of Drinks Consumed by 6 Social Context Alone With 1 other person With 2 or more other people 0 Ages Ages Ages NSDUH, 2009

5 Binge Drinking and Party Characteristics 54 percent of 9 th and 12 th grade students* who reported binge drinking** during the previous two weeks were significantly more likely to drink at parties: With few or no adults With 11 or more participants Occurring at someone else s residence *Minnesota and Wisconsin survey, 1992 **5 or more drinks on a single occasion Source: Mayer et al. 1998

6 What is Social Host Liability? Social host liability refers to laws that hold noncommercial individuals responsible for underage drinking events on property they own, lease or otherwise control.

7 What is Social Host Liability (cont.)? Hosts are prohibited from providing a location for underage drinking events. Furnishing the alcohol is not a required element of the offense.

8 Types of Social Host Liability Civil/tort liability Criminal Civil/cost recovery

9 Type 1: Civil/Tort Liability Laws and court opinions that allow third parties to sue social hosts for damage caused by minors who consumed alcohol on the host s property.

10 Civil/Tort Social Host Liability as of January 1, 2011 WA MT ND MN OR ID WI SD WY IA NE NV UT IL CA CO KS MO OK AZ NM AR MS VT ME NH MA NY MI RI PA CT NJ OH DE IN WV MD VA DC KY NC TN SC AL GA HI AK TX LA FL Legend Common law or statutory liability with no identified limitations Statutory liability and at least one limitation Statutory liability and at least two limitations No clearly recognized social host liability

11 Type 2: Criminal Statutes Social host laws that impose criminal sanctions (fines or imprisonment) Criminal prosecution requires strong evidence of wrongdoing.

12 Type 3:Civil/Cost Recovery Treats underage drinking parties as a public nuisance and threat to public safety. Imposes an affirmative duty on home owners to prevent parties from occurring.

13 Type 3:Civil/Cost Recovery (cont.) Imposes civil fines, including possible reimbursement to local government for cost of law enforcement and emergency services. May include landowners, landlords, tenants, and hotel and motel operators.

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16 Advantages of Civil/Cost Recovery Laws Strict liability no knowledge requirement. Fines imposed administratively, not through criminal justice system. Quicker, more certain process Greater likelihood that punishment will be imposed Promotes shift in community/social norms

17 State Statute and/or Local Ordinance? State role Establish floor requirements Usually imposes criminal liability Dependent on local enforcement Local role Tailor hosting requirements to local conditions Can be civil/nuisance based Enactment is easier to accomplish; may set the stage for State reform Law enforcement may be easier to promote

18 Prohibitions Against Hosting Underage Drinking Parties as of January 1, 2011 No hosting law Specific hosting laws General hosting laws

19 Social Host Ordinances: Their Role in Changing Community Alcohol Environments INDIVIDUALS POPULATIONS

20 Role of Policy in Affecting Drinking Behavior Public and Institutional Policies Alcohol Availability Norms, Attitudes, Beliefs Alcohol Use and Problems Source: Wagenaar et al., 1986

21 Supersized Alcopops: Binge in a Can

22 Prevention Paradigms Individual Behavior and behavior change Environmental Policy and policy change Relationship of individual to alcohol problem Social, physical, political and economic context of alcohol problems Short term focus on program development Long term focus on policy development and implementation

23 Social Host Ordinances: Getting Started 1. Assess impact of underage drinking parties in your community. 2. Assess resources, identify potential allies, engage community base. 3. Assess potential role of youth advocacy 4. Assess barriers to implementation and develop strategies for overcoming them. 5. Develop policy strategy.

24 Social Host Ordinances: Major Barriers 1. Community norms that condone underage drinking 2. Teens will drink in unsupervised settings risks will increase rather than decrease 3. Unfair to home owners they can be held liable even if they are unaware that party is taking place 4. Creates risk of police abuse; an invasion of privacy 5. Inadequate law enforcement resources

25 Social Host Ordinances: Planning Your Campaign 1. Identify key decision-makers. 2. Identify your key allies in influencing decision-makers and develop strategies for recruiting them to your effort. 3. Write case statement. 4. Draft ordinance. 5. Plan media advocacy campaign.

26 Sample Case Statement

27 Social Host Ordinances: Key Drafting Decisions Type of ordinance Persons potentially liable Number of notifications and time period Amount of fines and inclusion of cost recovery

28 Model Social Host Ordinance

29 Media Advocacy: A New Approach to Engaging the Media

30 Shifting Community Norms

31 Social Host Ordinances Implementation Steps 1. Engage youth in implementation process. 2. Execute plan for approaching allies, implementing media advocacy strategy, and persuading decision-makers. 3. Count votes, plan presentation to decisionmakers, then CELEBRATE!!

32 Social Host Ordinances Post-Enactment 1. Monitor Implementation (process evaluation) Are the key stakeholders and the public aware of the new ordinance and its implementation? Are law enforcement personnel successfully implementing the ordinance as planned? Are penalties being imposed in a timely manner? Are there unforeseen barriers to implementation?

33 Social Host Ordinances Post-Enactment 2. Evaluate results (outcome evaluation) Have the number and/or size of underage parties been reduced? Has underage binge drinking and associated problem rates gone down? Have adult norms regarding allowing underage drinking parties in private homes shifted? Is law enforcement and other local agencies expending fewer resources to respond to underage drinking parties?

34 Ventura County Evaluation Phase One: Promising Findings

35 Social Host Ordinance Campaign Useful Skills/Experience Community organizing Data collection & analysis Policy development/legislative drafting Policy advocacy & analysis Media advocacy Youth advocacy Evaluation (process) Evaluation (outcome)