Communities Draw the Line on Underage Drinking Project

OJJDP's Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) Assessment, Strategic Planning, and Implementation Initiative seeks to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to and the consumption of alcoholic beverages by persons who are younger than 21 years old through assessment, strategic planning, and program implementation. The initiative will provide funds to governor-designated state agencies that win the competition to implement research-based and promising practices to enforce underage drinking laws and prevent underage persons from consuming alcohol. The EUDL Program is authorized by the Department of Justice Appropriations Act, 2010 (Pub. L. 111-117).

This grant will support activities that will achieve performance measure outcomes. At the state level, an EUDL expert team will assess the state's underage drinking law system and make recommendations for improvement that will be included in an updated state plan to reduce underage drinking. At the county level, the project will ensure swifter consequences for alcohol violations by implementing pre-charge diversion programs that will move cases of 18-20 year olds who are arrested for minor in possession of alcohol and other misdemeanor alcohol offenses out of the criminal justice system and into a closely monitored community supervision program. The project will require motivational interviewing for pre-charge diversion and juvenile community diversion program participants in two counties. At the local level, four communities will implement environmental prevention strategies, including communications efforts, alcohol sales compliance checks, and Party Intervention Patrols that combine enforcement with alcohol use screening. Archival data sources, surveys, and process evaluations will be used to determine the impacts of the project. CA/NCF