« Ind. Law - More on hospital competition | Main | Ind. Courts - How to explain this slip-up? »

Wednesday, July 04, 2007

Law - "Justice Is Unequal for Parents Who Host Teen Drinking Parties"

On June 12th the Washington Post had a story reported by Daniela Deane that began:

A Virginia mother and stepfather began serving 27-month sentences yesterday for serving alcohol to minors at a 16th birthday party for their son nearly five years ago.

Their appeals exhausted, Elisa Kelly, 42, and George Robinson, 52, now divorced, reported separately to Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail. They pleaded guilty to nine misdemeanor counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor stemming from the backyard party for their son Ryan Kenty, now 20.

Kelly and Robinson hosted the party at their Earlysville home, in the hills outside Charlottesville, in August 2002. Kenty had asked his mother to buy beer and wine for his friends, with the understanding that they would stay the night. Court records show that Kelly spent $340.

Kelly said she collected car keys to make sure that no one left the party. She reasoned that the youths were going to drink regardless, and she wanted to keep them off the road.

Police went to the home after receiving calls about underage drinking. About 30 young people, ages 12 to 18, were there when police arrived, scattering into the woods when someone yelled, "Cops!"

"Nobody got hurt. Nobody drove anywhere. How many times can I say I'm sorry, that I made a mistake?" Kelly said before reporting to jail. "This is just too harsh." * * *

Albemarle County Commonwealth's Attorney James L. Camblos III recommended 90-day sentences, but the judge sentenced them to eight years.

Today Ms. Deane has another story, a long one headlined "Justice Is Unequal for Parents Who Host Teen Drinking Parties." Some quotes:
When police showed up recently at a Walt Whitman High School graduation party, three young people were drinking in a vehicle parked outside the Bethesda home. Then three more teenagers walked up with a six-pack in a bag. While the police were dealing with them, the mother came outside, saw the officers and ran back in.

Montgomery County police wrote dozens of citations against the minors who were found to have been drinking at the party. The party-hosting parents were given two civil citations each, carrying fines of up to $1,500 per infraction.

The outcome for the Bethesda parents was considerably less severe than for a Charlottesville area mother and stepfather who recently began serving 27-month jail sentences for hosting an underage drinking party. * * *

The stark contrast in punishments is just one inconsistency in a patchwork of conflicting legal practices and public attitudes about underage drinking parties. Even at a time of strong concern about youth drinking and drunken driving, police and prosecutors say parents in the Washington region are rarely held responsible -- criminally or civilly -- for allowing teenagers to gather at their homes and consume alcohol. That's in large part because it's difficult to prove that the adults provided alcohol or condoned its use.

The issue is becoming more urgent, police say, as more parents, fearing their teenagers will drink anyway, allow alcohol at home to keep the youths off the roads and out of trouble. In both the Bethesda and Charlottesville area cases, the parents had collected teens' car keys to ensure that nobody drove after drinking. The Virginia mother acknowledged buying the alcohol for the party.

"They were fully aware of the party and knew what was going on," Sgt. Tim Kwaloff, head of the Montgomery police Alcohol Enforcement Unit, said of the Bethesda parents. "More and more parents think they'd rather have their kids drinking at home than not know where they are."

Stacy Saetta of the Center for the Study of Law and Enforcement Policy, a California-based research center studying alcohol policy, said the parties are getting larger and can involve "hundreds of kids in this new Internet era of text-messaging, MySpacing and instant communication."

"Some of these parents are hosting these parties out of the goodness of their hearts," Saetta said. "They think they're doing the best thing [by] keeping them at home. But there's just too many dangers present when you get a bunch of young people together with money, with alcohol and with cars."

Posted by Marcia Oddi on July 4, 2007 09:00 AM
Posted to General Law Related