Washington State Criminal Justice System

The Public Policy Process The Public policy process follows five main steps namely, problem identification, agenda setting, policy formulation, policy implementation, and policy evaluation.

Step I: Problem Identification The Problem: People misusing alcohol accounts for 15% of the total population Excessive drinking of alcohol Rationale for selecting the problem Alcohol causes death to approximately 79,000 people every year in U.S. It is among the leading causes of deaths Average man takes five drinks while an average woman consumes four drinks per day The selected policy was about restricting hours of sale of alcohol and preventing excessive alcohol consumption. An issue is identified as a problem when it attracts public attention and outcry. It develops from being private and becomes a public issue. Excessive consumption of alcohol causes deaths that are approximated at 79000 per year in the United States. The statistics make it the leading cause of death that can be prevented in the USA. By Consuming five or more drinks for men, and four or more drinks for women accounts to 15% of total population in the US adults.

Problem identification (Cont’d) Why the problem exists: Variations on the number of hours for the sale of alcohol Differences in the sale of alcohol at retail places Lack of proper regulations on the sale of alcohol, number of hours Unrestricted drinking hours leads to uncontrolled drinking in the state of Washington. The hours of sale of alcohol varies from one state to another. The days of sale also vary from one state or region to another. There are also variations on how alcohol is being sold on a retail basis. For example, the state allows alcohol outlets to serve alcohol for a median of 19 hours a day on both weekdays and Saturday. Nine states that include Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, South California, Louisiana and Georgia have no limits on hours of sales for alcohol outlets done on premises. Therefore the unrestricted drinking hours and heavy drinking among adults becomes a major public problem that needs to be addressed (Hahn et al, 2010).

Step II: Agenda Setting It involves making the problem known to the government by: Developing policies necessary to control excessive consumption of alcohol Agendas include: Decreasing the number of days or hours of consuming beer Limiting access to alcohol selling outlets by regulating their opening and closing hours Restricting foreigners who encourage locals to take alcohol Policies that would control excessive consumption of alcohol can affect drinking pattern in a number of ways. Firstly decreasing or increasing the number of days may affect the customer ability to purchase alcohol by changing its availability. Secondly, when access to the outlets is limited, customers may increase the volume that they buy each time they pay a visit or they may purchase illegally. The number of tourists visiting an area may also affect the sale of alcohol. Therefore to come up with a suitable policy to this problem, the policy makers must, evaluate long-term policy changes related to days of sale, assess the impact of changes in days and time of sale and impact of revenue to the government (Maclennan, Kypri, Room & Langley, 2013).

Step III: Policy Formulation It involves addressing issues highlighted in agenda setting Restrict drinking hours Setting minimum drinking age to 21 Abolition of all monopoly companies in the state The state to control aspects of alcohol availability including type, permissible selling location, number, and alcohol routes Policy formulation is the process of dealing with policy issues that have been addressed in the agenda-setting stage. It will be based on, alcohol availability, age at which one can purchase alcohol, the stores where alcohol is sold , location and hours for selling. The minimum drinking age should be 21. There is the abusive behavior of young adults when the drinking age is set at 18. As a rule, alcohol should be restricted to underage youth whose early drinking may lead to drinking problems in life. All the monopoly companies are to be abolished in all the states. There would be no pure monopoly system in the state. Aspects of alcohol availability should be controlled by the state. They include type, number, and permissible locations of alcohol outlets. Regulation of the density of alcohol can be controlled by restriction of drinking hours set. Prohibiting sale of alcohol in the morning can greatly reduce the abuse of alcohol. The setting also a single day during the week where alcohol is not sold would also reduces alcohol abuse (Gruenewald, 2011).

Step IV: Policy Implementation The step involves executing plans suggested in the policy formulation: Aligning policies with other drug policies such as tax increase Limit sale of alcohol on Weekends Employ more drug enforcement officers Collaboration between federal, state, and local government administrators Implementation is the process of executing plans laid down in the policy formulation. There is the successful implementation of the policy. Limiting sale of alcohol on Sundays and Saturdays decreases the harm of alcohol. The government doesn’t lose much tax due to regulating the number of days that alcohol can be sold. More drug enforcement officers are to be deployed so as to ensure enforcement of the policy. The local government administrators are to work hand in hand to ensure proper implementation of this policy. The policy works best in alignment with other drug policies such as price and tax increase regulation policies (Gruenewald, 2011).

Step IV: Policy Evaluation Evaluating the policy on the control of alcohol drinking in the Washington State More research on the issue needed All policies have challenges and limitations People continue breaking the law despite the presence of rules Restricting number of drinking hours and drinking age leads to a reduction in alcohol intake Regarding of development of the policy of control of excessive consumption of alcohol, there exist research gaps. More research is supposed to carry out so as to assess the costs that may arise during implementing the policy. More research also needs to be done to address the whether there are reduced crime rates, reduced fatal and nonfatal accidents, or even domestic violence. According to a small number of studies conducted during evaluation of the policy, some limitations are noted. Despite the implementation of policy accidents continue to occur in some states in the USA. However is noted that there is strong and consistent evidence, that decreasing the availability of alcohol by restricting, during hours and number of days reduce harmful alcohol behavior. By limiting hours of sale, quality of life is sustained in communities by controlling alcohol availability (Hahn, Kuzara et al, 2010).

Step IV: Policy Evaluation (Cont’d) Limiting drinking hours improves quality Increase in workload of officers Other countries have successfully implemented such policies e.g. Canada Longer drinking hours leads to more violence Consequently, is noted that the workload for law enforcement officers would increase. The officers would work in the extra hours meaning that their earnings would be adjusted accordingly. The barriers that are likely to arise during enforcement of the policy is decreased revenue by the beer companies (Chaloupka, Grossman & Saffer, 2002). Studies suggest that introduction of the sale of alcohol in Australia on Sunday can lead to increased homicides and casualty deaths. Also in Canada banning happy hours could lead to reduced problems that occur during drinking. Longer alcohol drinking hours leads to increased violence. More research indicates that new Saturday openings in Sweden led to 3% increase in sales. Despite the finding, it has been noted that limiting the drinking hours generally will reduce problems. Other areas of interest in regulating alcohol consumption are by use of tax and pricing. Increased prices of alcohol are an effective policy to reduce alcohol consumption. Alcohol prices increased due to increased tax rates (Treno et al, 2014).  

References Hahn, R. A., Kuzara, J. L., Elder, R., Brewer, R., Chattopadhyay, S., Fielding, J., ... & Task Force on Community Preventive Services. (2010). The effectiveness of policies restricting hours of alcohol sales in preventing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 39(6), 590-604. Maclennan, B., Kypri, K., Room, R., & Langley, J. (2013). Local government alcohol policy development: case studies in three New Zealand communities. Addiction, 108(5), 885-895. Furlong, E. A. (2004). Agenda setting. Health Policy and Politics: A Nurse's Guide, 37. Gruenewald, P. J. (2011). Regulating availability: how access to alcohol affects drinking and problems in youth and adults. Alcohol research and health, 34(2), 248. Treno, A. J., Marzell, M., Gruenewald, P. J., & Holder, H. (2014). A review of alcohol and other drug control policy research. Journal of studies on alcohol and drugs. Supplement, 75(Suppl 17), 98. Chaloupka, F. J., Grossman, M., & Saffer, H. (2002). The effects of price on alcohol consumption and alcohol-related problems. Alcohol research and health, 26(1), 22-34.