U.S. Department of Justice 

Office of Justice Programs 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Office of Justice Programs Innovation • Partnerships • Safer Neighborhoods www.ojp.usdoj.gov 

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

october 2009 

Enforcing Underage Drinking 

Laws Program

Tragic social consequences can result when

youth use alcohol. Underage drinking contributes to youth violence, traffic injuries and

fatalities, crime, suicide, high-risk sex, and a

host of other problems. In 2005, underage 

drinkers (defined as individuals younger than

21 years old) consumed 15 percent of all alcohol sold in the United States (Miller, 2006). 

To address this serious problem, the Office of

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s 

(OJJDP’s) Enforcing Underage Drinking

Laws (EUDL) program helps the 50 States,

the District of Columbia, and the 5 U.S. territories prevent underage drinking by emphasizing law enforcement. 

Authorizing 

Legislation

The statutory authority for the EUDL

program may be found in Section 504 of the

Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention 

Act of 2002, 42 U.S.C. 5783 and 5665–5667 

and legislation appropriating funding for 

each fiscal year. From 1998 to 2009, Congress

appropriated $25 million annually for the 

EUDL program. Congress granted OJJDP 

the authority to administer the EUDL

program in 1998. 

Eligibility 

OJJDP’s EUDL program awards two types

of funding:

•	 Block grants—allocated annually to States

for the general purpose of supporting the 

enforcement of underage drinking laws.

The States and the District of Columbia are 

eligible to receive block grants. Each State’s 

chief executive (i.e., the Governor) must 

designate an agency to apply for these 

funds. In FY 2008 and FY 2009, the five 

territories—Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin

Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the 

Northern Mariana Islands—also received 

block grant awards. 

What is the EUDL program? 

OJJDP’s EUDL program supports 

and enhances efforts by States 

and local jurisdictions to reduce 

the availability of alcohol to minors. The program encourages 

close partnerships between law 

enforcement agencies and community groups involved in preventing and intervening in underage 

drinking. OJJDP also offers comprehensive training and technical 

assistance to guide States and 

communities in their efforts. The 

EUDL initiative is the only Federal 

program devoted exclusively to 

preventing alcohol consumption 

by minors. 

Learn more at 

ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/eudl. 

Jeff Slowikowski, Acting Administrator Jeff Slowikowski, Acting Administrator 
 

 

 

•	 Discretionary grants—awarded competitively to State agencies that administer the EUDL 

block grants program, including those with active EUDL discretionary program grants, to 

support the demonstration of best or promising practices at the local level. All States (but not

the District of Columbia or the five territories) are eligible to apply for discretionary grants. 

EUDL Activities 

OJJDP’s EUDL program includes block grants, discretionary grants, training and technical

assistance, and evaluations. 

Block Grants Program 

Under the EUDL block grants program, each State, the District of Columbia, and the five

territories received $360,000 in FY 2009, totaling more than $20 million for the program. 

These EUDL funds support three types of activities: law enforcement task forces, media campaigns, and innovative programs. Many States focus on law enforcement, emphasizing compliance checks of retail alcohol outlets. Other enforcement activities include crackdowns on false 

identification, programs to deter older youth or adults from providing alcohol to minors, party

patrols to prevent drinking at large gatherings, “cops in shops” to keep minors from purchasing

alcohol, youth-focused campaigns to enforce impaired driving laws, and investigations to determine the source of alcohol and hold the responsible party accountable for their role in alcoholrelated incidents. The funds also support public education programs and innovative methods for

reaching youth. 

Discretionary Grants 

EUDL discretionary grants support varied initiatives, all aimed at helping communities use

a comprehensive approach to address underage drinking. To date, a total of 30 States have

received discretionary funding, reaching approximately 300 communities. 

In an effort to address underage drinking issues in college communities, FY 2008 EUDL discretionary funding aims to reduce the availability of alcoholic beverages to and the consumption 

EUDL Funds at Work 

Alcohol Enforcement Teams 

(South Carolina) 

laws—had increased 90 percent, to a total of 2,559 checks; 

185 public safety checkpoints had been operated; and more 

than 11,500 tickets had been issued for various alcoholrelated offenses. In addition, 1,245 merchants in one county 

had been trained through a merchant education program. 

South Carolina has implemented Alcohol Enforcement Teams 

(AETs), multijurisdictional partnerships that use best-practice 

enforcement strategies to reduce underage drinking. These 

strategies include enforcement compliance checks, party 

patrols, merchant education, and publicity of such activities 

through the news media. In 2006, South Carolina used EUDL 

funds to expand the number of counties involved in the 

program. In 2007, the State allocated $1.6 million to create 

AETs in all 16 counties in the State. By October 2007, all of 

the teams were active. 

Youth in Action (Illinois) 

Youth are a driving force in Dewitt County’s efforts to reduce 

underage drinking. The rural county, with a population of 

16,000, is in central Illinois and is participating in the EUDL

Rural Communities Initiative. The Youth in Action (YIA) group 

has worked over the past 3 years with the Dewitt County

Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) coalition and the 

EUDL Rural Project to implement a variety of environmental 

strategies to educate their community on the dangers of 

underage drinking. During the project period, 18 high school 

Only 5 months into FY 2008, State totals for various activities 

had surpassed those for all of FY 2007. Compliance checks— 

visits to ensure merchants comply with underage drinking 

2 InFocus 
 

 

 

 

 

 

of alcoholic beverages by university and college students younger than 21 years old in three

States—Illinois, Nevada, and South Carolina. Each State is establishing partnerships with

university/college campuses and adjacent communities to implement research-based and 

promising practices. The initiative aims to decrease the number of first-time alcohol-related 

incidents, decrease the incidence of unintentional injuries related to alcohol consumption

among underage persons, and reduce alcohol-related traffic injuries or fatalities among

underage persons. 

In 2006, OJJDP formed a partnership with the U.S. Air Force to prevent underage military

personnel from purchasing and consuming alcohol. OJJDP awarded more than $1 million

in discretionary EUDL grants to Arizona, California, Hawaii, and Montana to support

partnerships between select civilian communities and Air Force bases in these States to 

reduce underage drinking and alcohol-related misconduct by underage airmen. In FY 2009,

OJJDP expanded its partnership with the Air Force when it made available nearly $1 million to up to four States for a 3-year grant period. 

Launched with FY 2004 and FY 2005 EUDL discretionary funding, the Rural Communities Initiative has been implemented in seven States—California, Illinois, Nevada, New

Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Washington. The initiative is nearing conclusion of its

program efforts to establish or enhance research-based practices to enforce underage drinking laws in rural communities. 

Training and Technical Assistance 

The training and technical assistance component of the EUDL program has been instrumental in helping communities and States enforce underage drinking laws around the country. OJJDP’s Underage Drinking Enforcement and Training Center (UDETC), managed by

the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, provides publications, training workshops,

curriculums, regional meetings, national conferences, onsite strategic technical assistance,

teleconferences, online resources, and other services. In FY 2008, UDETC conducted 97 

trainings, reaching more than 3,000 individuals in 29 States. 

In FY 2009, UDETC will launch the Youth Council, a new youth leadership initiative. The

goal of this initiative is to provide youth ages 15 to 18 with effective prevention tools and

strong leadership skills to support their efforts to prevent and reduce underage drinking in

their communities. 

YIA members met twice a month with the EUDL project coordinator 

and once a month with the MADD coalition. 

YIA members worked with local law enforcement on the planning 

and implementation of compliance checks on every licensed 

liquor retail business in the county. The YIA members also 

designed and implemented a program where they met with 

alcohol retailers and received permission from 87 percent of 

them to place warning stickers on packaged alcohol. The 

members also worked as decoys on shoulder tap operations throughout the county. As a result of these collaborative actions, three communities in the county adopted new 

ordinances raising the fine for selling alcohol to minors 

and requiring second-time offenders to attend mandatory 

training sessions. 

Alcohol 

Consumption 

by Youth in the 

United States 

Underage drinking is widespread in the 

United States. Approximately 12.5 million 

underage youth drink each year. In 2007, 

according to self-reports by U.S. students 

in grades 9–12 (CDC, 2007): 

•	 75 percent had at least one drink of 

alcohol on one or more days during 

their life. 

•	 44.7 percent had at least one drink of 

alcohol on one or more occasions in 

the past 30 days. 

•	 26 percent had five or more drinks of 

alcohol in a row (i.e., binge drinking) in 

the past 30 days. 

•	 4.1 percent had at least one drink of 

alcohol on school property on one or 

more of the past 30 days. 

InFocus 3 
 

Office Of Juvenile 

Justice and 

delinquency PreventiOn 

Serving Children, Families, 

and Communities 

Evaluation 

The Wake Forest University School of Medicine is conducting an evaluation of the EUDL

Community Trials Initiative. Under this initiative, OJJDP funded 5 States to support the

implementation of best or promising practices 

for increasing the enforcement of underage

drinking laws and preventing underage drinking in 34 communities. This initiative is being

evaluated using a randomized community trial

design and includes process and impact evaluation efforts. The researchers expect to release

evaluation findings in 2009. 

Researchers funded by the National Institute on 

Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism are conducting 

an evaluation of the Rural Communities Initiative and the military discretionary program. 

Performance 

Measures 

OJJDP requires all States and territories 

that receive EUDL funds to submit annual 

performance data. OJJDP expects grantees

to use this data to adjust their administration 

of EUDL funds and to improve program 

performance. Performance data also highlight

programs that have been particularly effective,

providing a valuable model for other initiatives.

The sidebar “EUDL Funds at Work” describes 

two EUDL-funded programs that are helping 

families, communities, and law enforcement 

work together to prevent underage drinking.

These programs are just two examples of the

success of many EUDL-funded initiatives 

nationwide. 

References 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

(CDC). 2007. Youth Risk Behavior Survey 

System. Retrieved March 24, 2009, from

www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/yrbs/pdf/

yrbs07_us_alcohol_use_trend.pdf. 

Miller, T.R., Levy, D.T., Spicer, R.S., and 

Taylor, D.M. 2006. Societal costs of underage drinking. Journal of Studies on Alcohol 

67(4):519–528. Cited in “Underage Drinking

Costs,” at UDETC Web site. Retrieved 

March 27, 2009, from www.udetc.org/

UnderageDrinkingCosts.asp. 

For More Information on the EUDL Program 

To learn more about OJJDP’s EUDL program, visit ojjdp.ncjrs.gov/eudl. 

For information about how to access EUDL funds that have been awarded to your State, or to 

request OJJDP-sponsored training and technical assistance, contact your State’s Juvenile Justice Specialist or EUDL Coordinator. Contact information is available on the OJJDP Web site. 

•	 Visit ojjdp.ncjrs.gov. 

•	 Click on “State Contacts” in the left navigation panel. 

•	 Select the checkbox next to “Juvenile Justice Specialist” or “EUDL Coordinator.” 

•	 Click on your State in the map provided. 

Contact information is also available on the UDETC Web site. 

•	 Visit www.udetc.org. 

•	 Click on “State Information” in the left navigation panel. 

•	 Click on your State in the map provided. 

For information about other 

OJJDP programs, go to 

www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ojjdp. 

The Office of Juvenile Justice 

and Delinquency Prevention is 

a component of the Office of 

Justice Programs, which also 

includes the Bureau of Justice 

Assistance; the Bureau of Justice 

Statistics; the Community 

Capacity Development Office; 

the National Institute of Justice; 

the Office for Victims of Crime; 

and the Office of Sex Offender 

Sentencing, Monitoring, 

Apprehending, Registering, 

and Tracking (SMART). 

*NCJ~227469* 4 InFocus