Criminalising the Social Supply of Alcohol to Minors in New Zealand: the Proposed Offence and Deterrence

Abstract

On the 9th of May 2010, 16 year old school boy James Webster died from alcohol poisoning after sculling an entire bottle of vodka at a teen party. His easily preventable death sent shock waves throughout the nation and served as a demonstration to the New Zealand public of the harm that excessive alcohol consumption can cause to young people. New Zealand’s youth culture is characterised by excessive drinking. Young people regularly take part in extreme binge drinking episodes and will often purposefully drink to the point of intoxication. This drinking behaviour has been proven to lead to a range of problems for individual drinkers and other members of the New Zealand community. Recently, the New Zealand community has become increasingly concerned about the problems related to the negative youth drinking culture in our country.