The county’s laws are crystal clear: If you’re 21 or over, and you host a party where alcohol is available to teenagers you can be fined $1,000 on the spot. If parents aren’t home, the teen who’s hosting the party gets the ticket. And to make sure tickets don’t get ignored, police promptly follow up with a letter to parents informing them about the party, the ticket, and the $1,000 fine.
If police are called a second time in one year, the fine doubles to $2,000 plus the cost of city services — which can run into thousands of dollars more if the fire department or other emergency services are involved. Compean says most teens and parents get the message the first time. She hasn’t been called back much for second offenses.
Since the law was passed six years ago, underage drinking has declined throughout the county, and teenagers report that it’s become more difficult to obtain alcohol.
And it’s not just in Ventura that such laws are changing behavior. Public health researcher M.J. Paschall, also with the Prevention Research Center, recently did a study comparing cities in California that had social host laws to cities that did not.
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