Underage Drinking: Harsher Punishments to Prevent Adolescents from Consuming Alcohol

Underage drinking being performed at a party. 

A study done in 2004 showed 75,766 deaths resulted from alcohol consumption and 4,554 of those deaths were younger than the legal drinking age. Alcohol abuse in minors has always been an issue, but as time goes on kids are starting to drink at younger ages than normal. If we don’t stop underage drinking now, we will face consequences in society for the rest of the future. There needs to be more education about what alcohol abuse does to minors and harsher punishment for underage drinking.  

Knowledge on alcohol consumption starts with the child's parents who are supposed to be their role models throughout life. Parents need to fulfill their duties of educating children on how bad underage drinking can be. Growing up in a house that doesn’t condone drinking, or where you learn how bad it is, will play a part in your decisions when you are older. Parents have a big role in what their children do. If they teach adolescents the consequences and affects alcohol has on them, it may prevent so many underage drinkers in the future.  

Drinking as a minor might be all fun and games, but once the police get involved it becomes an issue that could ruin a child's future. There are punishments and laws in place that try to prevent adolescents from underage drinking, but the temptation and peer pressure cause them to do actions they cannot take back. Some punishments throughout states could be more severe to help kids not participate in drinking as minors, because without harsher consequences adolescents won’t take it as seriously. 

 

Kids who drink under the age of 21 are not aware of all the affects alcohol can have on themselves or even the human brain. The brain is not fully developed until an adult in the mid 20’s. Drinking before reaching that age will cause problems with brain functioning and development.  

 

Studies have been done that show how alcohol has destroyed brain development and brain structure within adolescents from consuming too much alcohol. Since the child's brain isn't fully developed, they face challenging problems that affect their ability to learn and mature throughout their lives. Consuming alcohol as a minor reduces the size of the hippocampus in the brain, and since the brain of adolescents aren't fully developed, they will experience issues for the rest of their lives. The hippocampus is in charge of memory, learning, and a person's emotions. Damaging this part of the brain can result in Alzheimer's disease and depression or anxiety. Some of these illnesses could take years to recover from and could even end up untreatable.

Underage drinking will never fully be eliminated, but taking steps such as harsher punishments will ensure kids to think twice about their actions and the results for their futures.

Some might say underage drinking will never go away in today's world, and there is no point in trying to prevent it. It's a common activity done by college kids and high schoolers intended for them to have a fun time with their friends. You can never stop the use of alcohol in minors when they aren't consuming it publicly or making it visible when they are drunk. Underage kids who drink would normally know enough to not go in public intoxicated, but what else do they know about abusing alcohol as a minor?

Even though we can never completely stop underage drinking due to a person's right of privacy, we can try to enforce harsher punishments and incorporate educational classes into the mix to inform minors of the effects alcohol abuse could have on them.

 

In the state of Pennsylvania, a person under 21 who is buying, drinking, or in the possession of alcohol can be fined up to 500 dollars on the first offense and double on the second offense. There needs to be more punishment when getting caught with alcohol under the legal drinking age. There is not one kid who is going to say no to partying with their friends because they are in fear of getting fined. Having to only pay fines is not enough to make adolescents scared to participate in these illegal actions. We need to make these children realize all the benefits of not drinking underage and convince them to say no when they are asked.

 

With increasing the punishment, children should also have to attend classes or even do community service if caught with alcohol. Taking a class will educate children on the effects of what alcohol does to the human body, especially if you are under 21, and will add unwanted work to the kid's life. Community service can show the child what it's like to be punished for their actions, and hopefully get the point across of how life could be in jail if underage drinking led to that, such as assault or taking a life of another human on accident.

 

Getting caught with alcohol in some states could go on the child’s permanent record and ruin their future. Punishments shouldn’t have to be this harsh for just getting caught, but they also need to be more severe than just fines.  

 

In states like Ohio and Virginia the consequence of getting caught with alcohol is more educational and stricter. Having to take classes on what alcohol does to children will open their eyes to the problems it causes while they are both conscious and unconscious. Educational classes about alcohol are also something most kids would prefer not to do. So, enforcing children to learn more than what is required for school will make kids be more careful with the consumption level of alcohol and not abuse it if they decide to break the law.

 

This will also allow harsher punishments to be put in place because adolescents can’t say they didn’t know it was bad to drink. Kids shouldn’t get off the hook because they thought it was just a fun activity to do with friends. As children get older, they need to be held accountable for choosing to drink. The effects alcohol has on minors are way more intense than the effects it has on adults. With the knowledge of the consequences that can come from alcohol, children should be expected to avoid underage drinking and inform others to do the same.

 

Incorporating punishments like educational classes, community service, and license suspension if caught with alcohol ensures that adolescents will be less likely to openly drink and abuse alcohol at their age. Enhancing the consequences of underage drinking can be beneficial to our future generations and put a stop to so many young deaths in our world today. Once a kid is caught and punished it will reduce the chance of it happening to them again, and they will be smarter about their decisions with underage drinking for the future. Putting a stop to minors drinking will be hard, but with the constant fear of getting caught, there will be less children abusing alcohol until they turn 21.

There needs to be more education about what alcohol abuse does to minors and harsher punishment for underage drinking. Children will think twice before breaking the law if they know what it will do to their bodies and the people around them. Community service, classes, and license suspension are ways to increase punishment for underage drinking without disrupting the rest of their lives. Enhancing the punishments for underage drinking will stop so many adolescents from committing this crime, and hopefully work towards informing their friends to do the same.