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Parents Can Face Criminal Charges For Hosting Underage Parties

By Joel Hardy

12/04/2013

(KAIR)--Teenagers like to have a good time. And, in most cases, parents are willing to help them have fun. But when that fun includes minors consuming alcohol, parents furnishing that alcohol could face criminal charges. Atchison County Attorney Jerry Kuckelman says that the penalties for hosting a party where minors are consuming alcohol include a mandatory $1,000 fine and possibly a jail sentence of up to a year.

Additionally, parents do not have to physically be in building where the party took place. They can still face charges if they did not take reasonable precautions to prevent it from happening. Kuckelman gives the example of parents going out of town and leaving their kids at home without supervision. If a party with alcohol occurs in that situation, the parents could face charges.

Kuckelman adds that it is not just parents that can face legal trouble. Party participants who are at least 18-years old can also be charged. They were aware that minors were consuming alcohol and did nothing to prevent it from happening.

Minors at these parties can face a charge of minor in possession of alcohol which carries a mandatory $200 fine and suspension of a juvenile’s driver's license.

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