<p>As a lawyer, I would have a hard time establishing criminal intent on the part of this kid.<br>
Maybe I’m the only one who understands how stupid males this age can be- especially after having a few drinks. It just isn’t that big of a deal and the kid is scared to death and WILL have consequences.</p>
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<p>If you scroll to the bottom of this SUNY Potsdam website: [Legal</a> Drinking Age](<a href=“http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html]Legal”>http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/LegalDrinkingAge.html), you’ll see a map with states coded in red, yellow, or green.</p>
<p>Red states prohibit all drinking by underage children. (There are 7 of those, including Pennsylvania.)</p>
<p>Yellow states prohibit drinking by underage children but allow certain exceptions, which differ from state to state (e.g., religious, medical, or educational use–an example of educational use could be in a culinary school.) There are 24 of those, including Wisconsin.</p>
<p>Green states do NOT prohibit alcohol consumption by underage children on private property. There are 19 of those. So, if the OP’s godchild were in one of those states, he would apparently not have violated the law if he drank beer at home with his dad.</p>
<p>All states prohibit persons under age 21 from purchase or public possession of alcoholic beverages, however.</p>
<p>Thanks, wisteria.</p>
<p>I hadn’t known of the diversity of state laws on this. Fascinating.</p>
<p>That list is almost 3 years old and I am pretty sure some states have make their laws tougher. Still, it is interesting to see the difference.</p>
<p>I found this link to the laws by each state:</p>
<p>[APIS</a> - Summary of Underage Drinking Laws](<a href=“http://www.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/stateprofiles/]APIS”>http://www.alcoholpolicy.niaaa.nih.gov/stateprofiles/)</p>
<p>an update on the situation:
My godson told his parents, he got the dressing down he deserved, plus some summer priveleges revoked, but it’s not my business. He also told them that he had confided in me weeks ago. Haha. I don’t think they were mad at him or me about that, but will definitely be doing some serious reflection.</p>
<p>He also met with the magistrate and was permitted into their re-hab program at the end of which the entire alcohol related citation will be expunged. He told me that the mag. was quite a wonderful person in what she said and he is just downright grateful.</p>
<p>He still has the other citation to deal with, to which he had pleaded not guilty.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update; I wish him well.</p>
<p>Thanks for the update. Glad that he told his parents. Also am glad that his parents and the law responded to his behavior in appropriate ways.</p>
<p>To me, the other citation is very significant. I hope he gets a good result. I would still recommend hiring a lawyer for that one.</p>