Topic: Judge rules - Okay to sell alcohol to underagers if they lie well enough

Seems that a sting was set up to nab Waiheke Island businesses who were selling alcohol to people aged under 18.

The 'plant' was a 17-year old maori woman, confident and well dressed.

She struck up conversations with the proprietors, browsed the Pinot Noirs and did not appear nervous.

Of the 9 outlets she visited, only the supermarket asked for ID and refused to sell the alcohol.

Judge Edward Unwin (chairman of the Liquor Licensing Authority) ruled that the proprietors belief [that she was aged over 18 and therefore could purchase alcohol without needing ID] was reasonable and denied the call for revocation of their licenses.

What the hell?

Having done my bar managers license and put some thought into it (admittidley just for a club but everyone has the same rules) its a bloody hard thing to do, and too many of the rules I reckon put too much responsibility on the bar managers and places.

I am quite glad to see someone has put some thought into how hard it would have been to tell her age and stuff. They should just ask everyone for ID. Old or Young.

Well exactly...the crime is 'providing alcohol to a minor', not 'mistaking somebodys age'.

I mean come on! How many times have we heard the (not-so-funny) joke 'Your Honour, she said she was 18!'?

Why is it that these people, who broke the law, are getting off because the 17-year old was a good actor?

Is it okay to sell alcohol to underaged good actors? I doubt it somehow.

The justice system is fucked. Fucked I tell you. Judges need to be intelligent pillars of the community, and when the stupid fuckers make stupid fucking judgements, it just makes the whole thing seem pointless.

Yeah, to get a correct result your teenage bait should act like a teenager.

It's not that teenagers who lie well should get them off the hook, but more that a sting is supposed to have obvious holes in it otherwise even normally law-abiding outlets will fail.

Any sting where the mark is led to believe that what is taking place is legal isn't a sting. It's fraud.

Think about prostitution stings in the States and Aussie. The mark knows they're doing something wrong, validating the reasoning behind the operation. Approaching a business and 'tricking' them into falling afoul of the law means the sting operator perpetrated the crime, not the business.