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Magistrate advocates stiffer adult penalties
(by Sali McSherry - December 03, 2008)
Magistrate advocates stiffer adult penalties
By SALI McSHERRY
More than 40 percent of the nation's estimated 10.8 million underage current drinkers were provided free alcohol by adults, according to a recent report by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
According to a 2004 Case Western Reserve University center for adolescent health report on area school districts, including Chagrin Falls, Orange and Solon, 45 percent of the teenagers who were surveyed said they had consumed alcohol within the previous 30 days.
Through his work as a volunteer juvenile magistrate, Stephen Richman, an attorney and Moreland Hills village councilman, said Tuesday he has seen his share of trouble with teenage drinking and driving. And he wants to do something about it.
Mr. Richman said Ohio's Social Host Law says adults may not furnish alcohol to minors or "knowingly allow" minors to possess or consume alcohol on their premises, unless the adult is the parent or guardian of minors.
The Coalition to Amend Ohio's Social Host Law "is calling for a tougher standard of culpability," said Mr. Richman, who co-chairs the organization with Samuel M. Landry. According to their amendment, "adults would be in violation of the statute, if, for example, they 'knew or should have known' that underage persons were consuming alcohol on their property or 'recklessly' allowed the drinking to occur."
Amending Ohio's law to change the culpability standard would provide law enforcement with an avenue by which to charge adults, he said. In Wisconsin, for example, an adult who "knowingly permits or fails to take action to prevent" the illegal consumption of alcohol by underage people on the property owned by the adult or under the adult's control can face up to $500 in fines and 30 days in jail.
Mr. Richman has been honored by the "Parents Who Host Lose the Most" program.
After many hearings as a volunteer juvenile magistrate, he was asked by parents why the kids were cited but not the adults who were at the home where the underage drinking occurred, he said.
The law states that it's illegal to knowingly allow minors to consume or possess alcohol. But too many parents are "conveniently unaware" of the underage drinking in their homes by being asleep, in another room or by not being home at all, Mr. Richman said.
The problem occurs because some parents believe that drinking is a rite of passage, he said. "How many deaths does it take until we know that too many young people have died? The answer is not blowing in the wind. The answer is a tougher standard for a social host's criminal liability in Ohio."
In Wyoming, it's a misdemeanor for anyone to allow an open house party in which alcohol or illegal drugs are possessed or consumed by minors, according to a law passed in 2005.
Several months ago, Mr. Richman sent out a "research-backed plea" to find legislators willing to sponsor an amendment to the social-host law. Coincidentally, he said, a prevention group in Mahoning County was doing the same thing, and they joined forces.
Before the coalition returns to Ohio legislators, it is seeking statewide support from mayors, police chiefs, judges, county commissioners, school boards and superintendents, municipalities, council members and social-based organizations, he said.
The key proponents of the new coalition are Bellefaire's Social Advocates for Youth and Mahoning County Family and Children First Council's Coalition for Capable and Healthy Youth, he said. A growing number of supporters include the Drug-Free Action Alliance, Mahoning Valley Chiefs of Police Association and the Lake County Narcotics Agency.
In meetings and panel discussions he has been part of, Mr. Richman said, it has "been reported that Ohio's social-host law 'handcuffs' officers from arresting the social host."
There isn't a problem in arresting the teenage "users," he said, but the "dealers," often parents, almost always walk away, he said.
In 2000, a public-awareness campaign "Parents Who Host, Lose the Most: Don't be a Party to Teenage Drinking" was developed by Drug-Free Action Alliance. It has been a tool for Chagrin Valley police departments in educating parents about the health and safety risks, as well as the liability issues of serving alcohol to underage kids.
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