Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws Field-Initiated Research and Evaluation (FIRE) Program, Identifying Effective Environmental Strategies: An Overview for Practitioners

• NCJ Number: 250493
• Date Published: September 2016
• Length: 6 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2012-AH-FX-0003
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Report (Grant Sponsored); Program/Project Evaluation; Program/Project Description
• Award: Identifying Effective Environmental Strategies

Annotation

This report describes the design of a study that will identify effective environmental strategies for countering underage alcoholic beverage consumption by examining data on performance measures reported by the States and the District of Columbia under the Federal Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) program, which emphasizes environmental strategies that change the context linked to underage drinking behavior.

Abstract

The EUDL program is designed to "enforce State laws prohibiting the sale of alcoholic beverages to minors and to prevent the purchase or consumption of alcoholic beverages by minors." Under the study design, a database of EUDL activities implemented by grant recipients (all States and the District of Columbia), coupled with a database of outcomes across the same time period, will enable evaluators to produce and test a set of hypotheses regarding the implementation and outcomes of EUDL. Evaluators will work closely with the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), which is the grant administrator, and other stakeholders to prioritize and develop a final set of hypotheses to be tested. This report lists several example hypotheses to test in the evaluation. One example hypothesis is as follows: "Across the block grant period (1998 - present), States with more active and well-rounded coalitions that represent the whole community (e.g., coalitions that meet regularly, that involve youth, and so on) will have a greater overall impact on reducing underage drinking and associated misconducts than States with less active and less representative coalitions." A total of eight example hypotheses are presented in this report. In addition, the report provides an exhibit that displays study objectives, goals, and performance measures for each objective and goal.