Between the Post buzzkill-intern debacle and the booze-related death of 17-year-old Nicole John, the press has had a bar-busting field day. Next on the docket? Fake IDs!
Last weekend NY Daily News reporters took their readers on a tour of the not-so-secret life of the American teenager where “the only thing easier than buying a fake ID is using it to buy a drink.”
The pair bought “emergency IDs” in Chinatown for $108, where “the shop workers were eager to help” and there was “barely a 10-minute wait.” Thanks for the tip, Daily News? The reporters proceeded to be admitted or served at 13 of the 18 bars they approached, noting that they had “better luck” in the neighborhood around West 14th St. Naturally, the Daily News proceeded to post the names and addresses of many of those thirteen spots.
At Tanuki Tavern on West 13th St., the bartender “wound up offering the reporter a shot on the house,” a line practically lifted from the Post article in June. When was the last time you were offered a free shot? Yeah, me neither. These kids need to share their tricks or stop exaggerating.
Yes, the IDs used for this article were totally laughable. Yes, the bartender who said “this is the worst fake I’ve ever seen,” and proceeded to serve the reporter a beer should not be that daft. But simply put, an underage person who wants to get drunk or high will find a way to do so, be it at a bar with a fake or at the bodega down the block.
The problem isn’t with the bars, so stop getting them shut down. The problem is the drinking age, and most of the rest of the world already knows it. Like temporarily abroad NYU Local editor Rosie said, “I think today I’ll go out and join the armed forces and vote, while buying a pack of cigs and legally consenting to intercourse with an adult. Oh but wait, I can’t have a drink too?”
As the Daily News points out, possession of a fake ID comes with no penalties in New York. When it gets confiscated, you won’t be fined or charged with criminal activity. Perhaps, at the very least, it has dawned on the state that it would be a vast misdirection of taxpayer dollars to put every twenty year old who just wants a cold beer through the court system. Things move slowly enough.
What, you may ask, is the next step? Lower the damn drinking age, take the hundreds of millions of dollars once attached to futile attempts at drinking age enforcement, and put them towards some tangible means of improving society: fix our student loans before alcoholism looks even more like the logical alternative to drowning in a sea of debt.
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So the NY Daily News article says there’s no punishment for using a fake ID, but a bunch of other websites say otherwise. I haven’t found the actual law (if there is one)… does anyone know what can actually happen to someone caught with a fake ID?
I know it’s a federal crime if it doesn’t have that person’s name and address; that’s criminal impersonation. I’m just not sure of what NY statutes say.
I was going to ask basically the same thing. Though the reasoning that “drunk college kids in jail is not quite cost-effective” is pretty sound, I can’t imagine there being NO punishment for having false identification.
What is with New York City newspapers’ obsession with ruining the life of underage college kids? Even though I’m already 21, I find it infuriating on behalf of my underclassmen brethren. Isn’t there something better to report on? I’d almost rather hear more about Mosquegate 2k10.
Sorry, I just want to clarify that the newspapers should have something better to report on, not NYU Local.
As far as I know, getting a fake is considered forgery of a government document and is thus a felony. Are you likely to get a felony of your record for your fake? Probably not, but it can still be a big deal to get caught.
Case in point, friend of mine had a fake, tried to get into a bar. Bouncers told her it was fake and to leave. She insisted it was real and that he let her in. Bouncer turned around, and handed it to a police officer who was in the bar. Police officer found out it was fake. Girl had to deal with a lot of trouble.
This website had some pretty good information. http://www.criminaldefenselawyer.com/crime-penalties/federal/forging-documents.htm
Everything under the state of New York said “Varies” although they did leave this tidbit for other consequences in New York- “A ranging level of federal imprisonment sentences, Severe fines to deter this practice, as well as fines for restitution of alleged economic losses by federal government or corporate entities, Civil suits and liens from the IRS and other private or public entities suffering damages.”
I think that may have a little more to do with things other than ID’s, but it just gives you an idea.