Engagement of the Criminal Justice System—The Zero Adult Provider (ZAP) Project

What is ZAP? “It Starts Before the Door Knock”
ZAP started as a partnership among the St. Paul Police Department, City Attorney and the Ramsey County District Court, including probation services.... Under ZAP we changed our mindset”, Ramstad continues. “Once we agreed that an underage drinking party is a crime scene, every officer knew exactly how to handle it.” Eventually city leaders in St. Paul began to connect the dots between underage drinking parties and the myriad of problems that can result from what sometimes is viewed as “just a nuisance.”

Enforcement is More Than Cops
Another critical aspect of ZAP is the involvement of prosecutors, judges and probation. “Many communities feel stuck. Until everyone is in the same room, it’s easy to point the finger elsewhere and say ‘If only judges would…’ ‘If only probation would….” We get everyone on board from the start,” said Sheila Nesbitt, ZAP community organizer at the Minnesota Institute of Public Health, who works with communities across the state.

Judges play an important role by sending the message that they’ll take illegal provider cases seriously. Judges have also changed the standard sanctions against underage consumption to provide chemical use pre-assessments…

To read more about Minnesota’s engagement of the Criminal Justice System to address underage drinking, click here.

Dram Shop & Tort Liability: New Jersey Supreme Court’s Decision In Bauer v. Nesbitt (New Jersey)

Generally, dram shop and tort liability laws are of limited state interest.

Richard Blau / Gray Robinson
May 8, 2009
Source: Iowa ABD E-NEWS May 15th, 2009

After all, like alcohol regulation generally, every state sets its own standards in terms of whether to have a dram shop law and if so how to define it. Every once in a while, though, a case comes along that has relevance for all of us, no matter where we live, work or drink. The New Jersey Supreme Court's recent decision in Bauer v. Nesbitt is such a case.

To read the entire article and discussion, click http://www.udetc.org/documents/judicial/DramShop.pdf; and http://www.udetc.org/documents/judicial/0709eNews/YourNJlawyer.pdf or copy and paste the links to your internet browser to access the articles on-line.

Communities Working with the Judiciary to Address Underage Drinking

Date: Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Time: 3:00-4:15 p.m. EDT

Speakers: Ted Miller, Ph.D., Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation; Sheila Nesbitt, B.A., Minnesota Institute of Public Health; and Kevin Richard, M.A., Rhode Island Family Court

Description: This program is the third 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.

Nationally, the costs of underage drinking are in excess of $60 billion dollars; and of those costs, approximately 80 percent are crime-related (Miller, T., et. al, 2006). Underage drinking is not a harmless “rite of passage”, but rather a serious public health and safety issue requiring engagement of the entire community to resolve. Judges play a vital role in this process. Learn how various community leaders have appropriately engaged judges in their work to prevent youth access to alcohol and reduce youth consumption of alcoholic beverages; and how judges have set the “bar” for community responses to underage drinking, including promising court practices.

*Visit http://www.udetc.org/judicial/judicialaudio.asp to see a schedule of upcoming audio conferences, and to register for calls that may be of interest to you.*

Parents combat underage drinking: Advocates seek better enforcement of social hosting law (Published April 12, 2009, KS)

Judge condemns underage drinking after teens kick student to death (Published June 12, 2009, UK)

Woman sentenced for giving her underage cousin alcohol (Published June 17, 2009, MN)

Underage Drinking Laws Reduce Fatalities (Published April 8, 2009, MD)

CALVERTON, Md., April 8 (UPI) -- Underage drinking laws reduce fatal accidents, saving an estimated 732 lives per year, U.S. researchers said.

James C. Fell of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation in Calverton, Md., said that the study further shows that if every state adopted "use and lose" laws -- suspending the license of anyone under 21 cited for possession, consumption or attempt to purchase alcohol -- an additional 165 lives would be saved.

To view the entire article that includes useful legal references, click on http://www.udetc.org/documents/judicial/0709eNews/UnderageDrinking.pdf or copy and paste this link to your internet browser in order to locate the information.

We want to share some exciting details with you about this year’s 11th Annual Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) National Leadership Conference: Beyond Boundaries: Timely Trends and Technology!

General Conference Information:

This year’s conference will take place August 13-14, 2009 in Dallas, Texas. The conference will officially begin on Thursday, August 13th at 9:15am with an exciting Conference Opening Plenary and end on Friday, August 14th at 4:30pm with our special Closing Session. Pre-conference meetings will be held on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 (by invitation only). There will be numerous interactive workshops, plenary sessions, and networking opportunities. This conference continues to be the preeminent Underage Drinking Conference specially suited to offer the most innovative tools, resources and data to EUDL State/Territory Coordinators, enforcement officers, executives, youth, parents, government officials, leaders and members of community-based organizations, legal professionals, health professionals and other individuals concerned with underage drinking. You will leave with a host of practical ideas from the most prominent experts in the field, new found partners through various networking opportunities and advanced knowledge that can be put to use immediately in your community.

For more information about the conference including registration and hotel accommodation information, visit the Underage Drinking Enforcement Training Center’s (UDETC) website at www.udetc.org or contact the UDETC at 1-877-335-1287 or via email at udetc@udetc.org.