Judicial & Probation Outreach Project:
On behalf of the Judicial and Probation Outreach Project team, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) would like to thank you for your interest in underage drinking-related issues and best and promising practices to create safer and healthier environments for our nation’s youth; and encourage you to engage in discussions about the topic to identify promising court practices and community engagement that will not only impact the individual youth, but will have long lasting effects in changing community norms and responses to this complex public health and safety issue.
Jeff Slowikowski
Office of the Administration
Acting Administrator
Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
Inside this Issue
Case Spotlight on Underage Drinking
Upcoming Electronic Seminars
Connecting to the News
Useful Data
Feedback
Please visit our enhanced website at www.udetc.org for the latest information on underage drinking and judicial resources.
Utah’s Strategy to Address Underage Drinking The Utah Juvenile Court receives more than 43,000 referrals each year, with alcohol-related offenses the second most frequently referred to the court. Most of these referrals (90%) are for alcohol possession and consumption. Before implementation of Utah’s risk assessment and case management process, youths were handled in a myriad of ways. For example, many received a citation requiring the payment of a fine, some were ordered to perform community service work, and others were put on probation. The consequences for each youth were determined by a subjective analysis of his or her prior history (if any), a Sentencing Guidelines matrix, and the probation officer’s best professional appraisal. Today, each youth referred to Utah’s Juvenile Court has an actuarial prescreen risk and needs assessment completed by a probation officer. If the youth scores moderate or high risk, the Protective and Risk Assessment tool is administered. The assessment contains 91 questions and identifies the youth’s level of risk, level of need, and protective factors across 10 domains. To read more about Utah Juvenile Court’s efforts to address underage drinking-related cases, click on http://www.udetc.org/documents/judicial/utahcase.pdf. |
| Case Spotlight on Underage Drinking: |
By Judge Esther Barger What comes to mind when I say the words "underage drinking"? Most people may think something like "What's the big deal?", or "hey, everybody does it" or "just some kids having a little fun, what does it hurt?" Those are some typical prevailing attitudes about underage drinking. Texas in general has a more relaxed attitude toward drinking than many other states. However, the unfortunate reality is that underage drinking is a real and serious problem facing the State of Texas today. The most recent data we have available is for 2005, when underage drinking cost the State of Texas $5.2 billion dollars. That's billion with a B. Let's discuss some common legal questions about underage drinking… To read the entire article, click on, http://www.udetc.org/documents/Judicial/0110eNews/barger.pdf or copy and paste the link to your internet browser to access the article on-line. |
| Upcoming Electronic Seminars: |
Date: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 Time: 3:00-4:15 p.m. Eastern Time Location: Online Audio Teleconference Faculty: Description: This program is the fifth in a series of audio-teleconference presentations produced by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) and the American Probation and Parole Association (APPA) in cooperation with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) with a focus on the relationship of the judicial and probation communities and the issues related to underage alcohol abuse. Long Beach New York is located within Nassau County with a population of 1.3 million residents and is considered by many to be a drinking and party destination. Underage alcohol use and abuse is a significant concern of the community. County data reflected that 54.9 percent of 11th graders reported drinking alcohol within the last month, and 36.8 percent reported binge drinking within the past two weeks. In response to the alarming nature of the problem, the Long Beach Medical Center formed the “Coalition to Prevent Underage Drinking,” focusing its efforts on changing the prevailing permissive culture around alcohol use by youth. The Coalition members include the police Department, the school district, the city council, the courts, the media, and the clergy, among others, to bring about policy change on the local level. Our program will trace the development of the community response model and discuss how the medical community, Nassau County District Attorney’s office and the Long Beach City Court have worked together to address underage alcohol issues in New York. NO REGISTRATION FEE: Course Objectives, Outline and CLE Certificate Provided Upon Request INQUIRIES: *Visit http://www.udetc.org/judicial/judicialaudio.asp to register for this call and to see a schedule of upcoming audio tele-conferences that may be of interest to you.* |
| Connecting to the News: |
Increased Liabilities Arise from College Campus Drinking (Published October 5, 2009, NJ) Manslaughter charges stand for St Johns County house party mom (Published November 20, 2009, FL) FDU should not be shielded in student’s death (Published December 31, 2009, NJ) |
| Useful Data: |
Underage drinking cost the citizens of the United States $68.0 billion in 2007. These costs included medical care, work loss, and pain and suffering associated with the multiple problems resulting from the use of alcohol by youth. This translates to a cost of $2,280 per year for each youth in his/her State. More on this information, newly released from the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, may be found on the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center website at http://www.udetc.org/UnderageDrinkingCosts.asp |
| We Want to Hear from You: |
| We recognize that judges play a vital role in educating underage youth and adults who appear before them, and heavily influence community norms around the complex issues of underage drinking. Our project seeks out judges, courts, and judicial initiatives that can be held up as models for the rest of the country, and research that would be useful to the Courts when addressing these cases. We are looking for examples to highlight in our "Judicial Action on Underage Drinking" section to document how a judge, court, or judicial initiative has developed and implemented successful strategies on the complex issues around underage alcohol problems. We are also looking for media features about court responses to underage drinking that can be placed in future Judicial E-News communications and posted to our website as a resource for others in the field who may find the information of interest. If you would like to share your successes with us, please contact Aidan Moore at amoore@pire.org, or Holly Torske at torske@pire.org. We look forward to working with you and expanding our outreach to the judicial and probation communities about best and promising court practices on underage drinking-related issues. |
Underage drinking a big problem for all of us (Published September 9, 2009, TX)
