new jersey changed the drinking age in 1984.
new jersey changed the drinking age in 1984.
when did new jersey change the drinking age?
1984
from 1976 to 1983, several states voluntarily raised their purchase ages to 19 (or, less commonly, 20 or 21), in part to combat drunk driving fatalities. in 1984, congress passed the national minimum drinking age act, which required states to raise their ages for purchase and public possession to 21 by october 1986 or lose 10% of their federal highway funds. by mid-1988, all 50 states and the district of columbia had raised their purchase ages to 21 (but not puerto rico, guam, or the virgin islands, see additional notes below). south dakota and wyoming were the final two states to comply with the age 21 mandate. the current drinking age of 21 remains a point of contention among many americans, because of it being higher than the age of majority (18 in most states) and higher than the drinking ages of most other countries. the national minimum drinking age act is also seen as a congressional sidestep of the tenth amendment. although debates have not been highly publicized, a few states have proposed legislation to lower their drinking age, while guam raised its drinking age to 21 in july 2010.
u.s. history of alcohol minimum purchase age by state
new jersey's drinking age was lowered to 18 in 1973 as part of a broader legal change which reduced new jersey's age of majority from 21 to 18. much of the impetus for lowering the drinking age to 18 was to grant returning vietnam veterans the right to purchase alcohol. possibly because of concerns about 18-year-old high school students being able to legally purchase liquor, and then illegally consume it school, the state raised the drinking age to 19 in 1980. citing statistics that indicated an increase in car deaths among drivers under 21, the drinking age was raised back to 21 in 1983. at the same time, the penalties for underage drinking were increased to include a mandatory driver's license suspension. in 1985, the state made it illegal for an adult to give alcohol to a person under 21, with exception for religious services and parents serving alcohol to their own children at home or in a private area.
alcohol laws of new jersey