Caught underage drinking? No misdemeanor, but infraction, hefty fine for first offenses

BOISE, Idaho (KBOI) — Last year Idaho lawmakers passed legislation intended to give underage kids caught drinking alcohol a second chance.

When the legislature passed House Bill 494, it amended Idaho Code 23-604, making the first offense for a minor caught possessing or drinking alcohol an infraction rather than a misdemeanor.

This means instead of having a criminal record a for the rest of their lives, Idaho youth now get one strike which carries the criminal weight of a parking ticket. This is something Boise Police Lt. Rob Gallas stands behind.

"I don't want to encourage drinking but again I don't want people to be marked as a misdemeanor offender for the rest of their life," Gallas said.

Make no mistake, even with this new policy BPD still takes underage drinking very seriously. In fact, from July 1, when the law went into effect through the end of September, 472 underage drinkers in Boise were cited for a first offense. That's more than in the entire years of 2014 and 2015.

While BPD may be citing more minors for first offenses, they say there's been almost no repeat offenders.

"When we do issue a citation it makes the point in their minds that they need to be making different decisions," Gallas said.

Part of this is even though the infraction does carry a lot of criminal weight, it is a hefty fine - try $487.50 per infraction.

"It's going be a learning experience. It's not going to be an easy one," said Adam Schloegel, a Boise Police officer, to a minor receiving an infraction. "But at the same time it's an opportunity for you to learn a lesson for the future not to repeat these same mistakes, right? That's why it's an infraction and not a misdemeanor anymore."

"If we can correct behavior and have that infraction accomplish that then we're good with that," Gallas said. "We just want to see that people are acknowledging that these laws exist, they exist for a reason and we don't have to come back and issue additional citations."

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