Dive Brief:
- Light penalties are typical for U.S. college students involved in alcohol-related offenses and incidents, according to an article in the August issue of the journal "Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research."
- The authors of the article looked at campus police responses to alcohol-related incidents, both on- and off-campus, at 343 colleges.
- Minor consequences for violating alcohol laws could be one reason why binge drinking is such a problem with college students, according to the study.
Dive Insight:
Binge drinking rates vary widely between colleges, and those rates may be driven by the availability of alcohol, cheap alcohol due to drink specials and low alcohol taxes, heavy marketing, and student social life emphasis on drinking, according to the study. Minor consequences included not issuing citations to students and referring them for discipline from university officials, rather than criminal courts. Also, students involved in alcohol incidents usually weren’t referred for alcohol screening or intervention, and parents were rarely contacted.
