Source: George Doyle / Getty
In certain states it is legal for minors to drink alcohol at private parties as long as they have permission from their parents; however North Carolina is not one of those states. According to the state Division of Alcohol Law Enforcement any adult who allows a minor to drink alcohol should have known that underage drinking was occurring in their home and therefore can be criminally charged for misdemeanor aiding and abetting.
Dr. Charles Joseph Matthews and his wife, Kimberley Hunt Matthews are living examples of such a law since they go on trial next week on those exact charges. The Mathewses are accused of providing alcohol to teens at a wedding reception last year, in which one of those underage drinkers, 18-year-old Jonathan Taylor, later died in a crash.
The Matthewses attempted to get the charges dismissed, arguing that prosecutors were wrongly targeting them instead of the bartenders who served drinks without checking IDs or the ABC store employee who sold their underage son alcohol that he brought to the reception. However they were unsuccessful.
There are 320,000 underage drinkers each year in North Carolina alone, according to a study conducted by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. Some parents still contest the law by saying that they’re doing the right thing by providing a safe environment for their teens to drink.
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