Harsher penalties needed for underage drinkers
Mon 19 May 2008
Carolyn Garner, Bachelor of Journalism
Underage binge drinking on the Sunshine Coast has reached record highs and police say harsh penalties for offenders should be adopted.
Senior Constable Jeff Frazer said underage drinking on the Sunshine Coast accounted for 25 per cent of all police incidents. On the weekends this number rises to 40 per cent.
“The problem has escalated substantially over the past five to 10 years and I would estimate that 10 years ago, the problem would have only accounted for about 5 per cent of police jobs and about 10 per cent five years ago,” Sen-Constable Frazer said.
He believes the increase of the problem is due to a lack of fear of police and inadequate reprimands for offences.
“I do not believe that the law is being tough enough, as the problem would not be escalating so rapidly if there were real penalties for the offenders,” Sen-Constable Frazer said.
“I believe that fear is the major influence on human behaviours so offenders need to fear being caught and then fear being punished once caught.
"Penalties need to be real and meaningful.”
Some parents believe events give underage teens something to do on weekends, but some alcohol-free events on the Sunshine Coast have provoked, rather than prevented, alcohol abuse.
“Creating events and things to do have proven to encourage the alcohol abuse among teens, as more of them are believing that it is ‘cool’ to be drunk when attending these things,” Sen-Constable Frazer said.
Police have employed devices, such as breath testing, to detect whether teens have consumed alcohol at underage functions.
“The Caloundra Blue Light has a breath testing policy as a condition of entry for those suspected of having consumed alcohol and this has eliminated anyone coming to the door with alcohol in them,” Sen-Constable Frazer said.
Sen-Constable Frazer said the new alcohol tax on pre-mixed drinks would not completely deter teens. He said it might, in fact, encourage teens to obtain hard liquor to mix with soft drink.
“I think it (the pre-mixed liquor tax) will only slightly reduce the problem as most underage drinkers will obtain the alcohol anyway they can, if they decide they are going to drink.
"It will increase the practice of putting alcohol in with soft drink in bottles which then becomes more difficult for the police to detect so it may very well increase the problem as the mixtures are usually not measured with any accuracy,” Sen-Constable Frazer said.
Police believe there are a large number of sexual and bodily assaults caused by teen alcohol abuse. But many of these go unreported as victims feel unable to tell anyone.
Sen-Constable Frazer believes harsher penalties accompanied by parental responsibility and education about the effects of alcohol need to be adopted to reduce cases of underage drinking.
“The parents should be made responsible to modify their children's behaviour and this needs to be supplemented by education about the risks, dangers and likely results of alcohol abuse in teens,” Sen-Constable Frazer said.
Image(s) designed by Carolyn Garner
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Submitted Comments
I fully agree that there needs to be harsher penalties for underage drinkers or anyone who abuses alcohol. The lack of consequences from the judicial system means there is very little to encourage young people to act in a responsible law abiding way.
Jaci Smith