Tennessee Criminal Lawyer Blog

Tennessee Attorneys understand that underage consumption is one activity in Tennessee and across the nation that will persist no matter what the warnings or penalties. In Knoxville, most college students at the University of Tennessee do not turn 21 until their junior or sometimes senior year. However, most college freshmen and sophomores have numerous and frequent experiences with alcohol. Whether it’s tailgating at a University of Tennessee football home game, having mixers with other sororities or fraternities, drinking on the strip, or simply hanging out with friends in the dorm or the apartment, alcohol will always be drunk by people under the age of 21.

There is much scholarly debate as to whether underage consumption should even be a crime for individuals 18 or older. On the one side, alcohol is usually a contributing factor in a young person’s premature death. This is sometimes caused by alcohol poisoning. Other times, it is the young person’s mistake of getting behind the wheel of an automobile and hurting either himself or someone else. People argue that 18 year olds are too immature to handle the affects of alcohol - that is, people say that it’s too much responsibility for an 18 or 19 year old to have.

On the other side, if 18 year olds are mature enough to vote, serve on juries, and die for their county in the military, then people say that they are mature enough to make the correct decisions regarding alcohol. Nevertheless, underage consumption is illegal in the state of Tennessee. According to state law, it is unlawful for any person in Tennessee under the age of twenty-one to purchase, possess, transport or consume alcoholic beverages, wine, or beer. There are two important exceptions to this law:

• Any person eighteen years of age or older may transport, possess, sell, or dispense alcoholic beverages, wine, or beer in the course of such person's employment; and

• Any such priest or minister may utilize and administer alcohol or wine at a communion service, bat mitzvah, bar mitzvah, or other similar religious service or ceremony, in accordance with the practices of such denomination or sect. Tenn. Code Ann. §1-3-113 (2007).

Underage consumption carries stiff penalties in Tennessee. It is considered to be a Class A misdemeanor, the highest level of the three misdemeanors. If you are convicted, you could serve a sentence of up to eleven months and twenty-nine days and a fine up to two thousand five hundred dollars. If you are charged with underage consumption in the Knoxville, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, Maryville, or Johnson City area, it is important to contact a Tennessee Criminal Attorney. We understand the procedures and heavy burdens that the state must prove to convict you of this charge.