Parents in more U.S. communities are facing fines and other penalties for allowing underage youths to drink in their homes, according to participants at the annual National Leadership Conference in Baltimore, Md., the Associated Press reported Aug. 25

"The word is out that if you are going to have a home party you are going to get a citation if it's an underage-drinking party," said Dan Hicks of the Ventura County (Calif.) Behavioral Health Department. The county recently passed a civil-host liability law that hits parents with fines of up to $1,000 for knowingly hosting youth drinking parties. In Long Beach, N.Y., the city council recently made it a crime for adults to serve alcohol to underage drinkers, with penalties including fines of $250 and up to 15 days in jail.

Supporters of the laws acknowledge that enforcement is difficult, so they're hoping that publicizing the penalties will serve as a deterrent. "You want them to be thinking before the party's planned, before things start happening," Hicks said.

Most of the laws have been passed on the local, rather than state, level. "Those are where the action is lately, because communities realize they need to tailor these laws to local concerns," said Stacy Seatta of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, which studies youth drinking.