Posted on: Sunday, April 20, 2003

EDITORIAL
Policing youth drinking a challenge in the home

There's every good reason to crack down on adults who allow minors to drink alcohol in their home and then get behind the wheel — particularly in light of all the booze-fueled traffic accidents that have killed or injured Hawai'i's young.

So we can get behind the philosophy of a bill, headed for the governor's desk, that would hold homeowners or renters liable for deaths or injuries caused by an underage driver who got drunk at their residence.

The law would give parents whose kids or underage guests have been drinking an excuse to take away the car keys. "It's not me, it's the law," they could say.

But one must also take into account the reality that adults don't wield absolute control over the actions of their offspring and underage guests at all times.

The bill holds liable adults who "had control over the premises and, being in a reasonable position to prevent the consumption of alcoholic beverages by that person, knowingly or recklessly permitted that consumption."

That certainly takes care of adults who blatantly served alcohol or witnessed underage drinking in their homes.

But it's vague in addressing more subtle circumstances. Teenage drinking isn't always out in the open. And parents can't spend all their waking hours peeping through keyholes.

Sure, parents can lock their liquor cabinets, but their children and underage guests can as easily break into them, or obtain alcohol elsewhere.

Sure, they can forbid drinking, but their children and underage guests can just as easily sneak alcohol.

Do you card all the guests at a private party and give only those over age 21 the access code to the ice chest?

Adults bear the responsibility to do everything in their power to prevent underage drunk-driving accidents. But there are limits to their policing powers, and enforcement of this well-intentioned law must take that into consideration.