EVALUATION SHOWS EARLY INTERVENTION HELPS REDUCE
UNDERAGE DRINKING BY AIR FORCE MEMBERS

WASHINGTON - A new bulletin released by the Department of Justice's Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) discusses the evaluation of five community programs to curb underage drinking by Air Force personnel.

Reducing Drinking Among Underage Air Force Members in Five Communities highlights findings from an evaluation of five communities? efforts to reduce drinking and associated alcohol-related misconduct among active-duty Air Force members ages 18 to 25, with a focus on underage drinkers (ages 18 to 20). This bulletin is the first in a series on underage drinking that OJJDP created to educate practitioners and policymakers about the problems youth face when they abuse alcohol and to provide evidence-based guidelines to address the issue.

In the fall of 2006, OJJDP awarded discretionary grants to five communities in four states to implement the Enforcing Underage Drinking Laws (EUDL) program over a three-year grant period. Each community partnered with a local Air Force base and worked with a community coalition. The five communities included: (1) Great Falls, Mont. and the Malmstrom Air Force Base; (2) Honolulu, Hawaii and the Hickam Air Force Base; (3) Phoenix, Ariz. and the Luke Air Force Base; (4) Tucson, Ariz. and the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base; and (5) Sacramento, Calif. and the Beale Air Force Base.

States designed and implemented intervention efforts based on changing the cultural and social environment to reduce drinking and associated alcohol-related misbehavior among active-duty Air Force personnel. Intervention activities at the five sites included shoulder-tap identification operations, compliance checks using covert underage buyers, and increased frequency of DUI (Driving Under the Influence) checks. Sites also developed community-based media campaigns and alternative activities to drinking, such as sports, recreational, and arts activities.

The evaluation measured the effectiveness of the interventions on the drinking behavior and associated alcohol-related misconduct by active-duty personnel. Findings included:

• Although all five sites showed some success, sites that implemented their interventions early, had underage drinking task forces at the program?s onset, collaborated with local partners, and followed guidance from the federal agencies sponsoring the evaluation had the best results.
• Airmen based in urban communities were more successful in finding alternative activities to drinking than airmen based in rural communities.
• The percentage of Air Force enlisted personnel at risk for a drinking problem decreased 6.6 percent from 2006 to 2008. The authors attribute the Air Force?s own alcohol prevention and awareness campaign (the Culture of Responsible Choices) and fewer active duty deployments within the Air Force in 2008 than in 2006 as possible contributing factors.

OJJDP announced the release of this publication this week at the 13th National EUDL Leadership Conference in Orlando, Fla. The conference focuses on tools, research and technology to enforce underage drinking laws nationwide. Conference participants include law enforcement officers, executives, military personnel, judges, prosecutors, probation officials, youth, government officials, staff members of community-based organizations, and other individuals concerned with underage drinking.

The publication is available at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/232616.pdf.

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The Office of Justice Programs (OJP), headed by Assistant Attorney General Laurie O. Robinson, provides federal leadership in developing the nation's capacity to prevent and control crime, administer justice, and assist victims. OJP has six bureaus and offices: the Bureau of Justice Assistance; the Bureau of Justice Statistics; the National Institute of Justice; the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention; the Office for Victims of Crime; and the Office of Sex Offender Sentencing, Monitoring, Apprehending, Registering, and Tracking (SMART). More information about OJP and its components can be found at https://ojp.gov.