MADD (Mothers against Drunk Drivers) was the original name of the nonprofit organization and was later changed to Mothers against Drunk Driving suggested by legal counsel. This nonprofit organization was created by Candy Lightner on May 7th, 1980 four days after her daughter was killed in a horrific car accident caused by a drunk driver. That same person was just released from jail on bail for a hit and run car crash due to a DUI (Driving under the Influences) just days before he killed her daughter Cari.
When she found out that the person that did this to her child would not spend much time in jail or prison for the crime that he committed and she made a promise that day to do everything she could to make a positive change in the years ahead to make sure that those that did the crime pay the time. Candy started this organization in her home to help raise public awareness of the serious nature of drunken driving and to promote tough legislation against the crime. The organization wanted to reduce the amount of deaths caused by drunk drivers by educating the nation and doing so for the first 15 years the death among drunk drivers dropped by 20% in 1997.
The biggest social problem that MADD identified was underage drunk driving that happened each year. With the information from data gathered related to underage drinking and driving we can see a trend that is related to traffic deaths of teens. Rebecca Brown who lived in Florida stated a MADD organization after her son Marcus passed away at the age of 18 from an accident caused by a drunk driver that was only 19 years old. The state of Florida decided to pass a law to make the legal drinking age to 21 in 1988. Not too long after all 50 states changed their legal drinking limit to 21.
With the legal age limit for drinking are now 21 they also have a zero tolerance for underage drinking in all 50 states. With the invention of MADD there have been many new policies that have been made to help control underage drinking. In 1990s the zero tolerance for minors become in affect. In 200 the blood alcohol limit became . 08 to help stop people from driving drunk. In 2003 the development of the first hardcore DWI Judicial education guide that trained over 3,000 judges in 40 different states.
During 2005-2012 laws developed programs for the criminal justice systems to help education people on probation and parole. In 2013 we launched a driving program called I Know Everything for teens and a course on the DUI laws. “2014: Released the Hardcore DUI law enforcement training guide, supported mandatory ignition interlocks for all convicted DUI offenders and here soon in 2015 a state of the art alcohol assessment tool developed by The Cambridge Health Alliance, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a juvenile justice education guide for underage alcohol violations”(http://responsibility. org/).
There were no major problems when it came to implementing polices but more of a problem internally with the corporation. One of the biggest challenges is collecting from the violators that help fund the victims. Most of the time the offenders are fined or sentences to jail so it becomes an obstacle to collect. The way we delivery human service to the public can give thanks to the nonprofit organization MADD. MADD had helped place many new laws to protect children and teenagers that are behind the wheel from drunk drivers.
The new laws make it tougher for DUI people to just walk away with a slap on the wrist. MADD and human service workers are here to better a person’s life with education on the dangers of driving drunk and what the outcomes could be. MADD is a great organization that started in the den of a victim that was killed by a drunk driver and they helps others that are victims of drunk drivers. They offer many different services such as finding support 24 hours a day 7 days a week and they fight for the victims’ rights. References: Candy Lightner by David J. Hanson, Ph. D. http://www2. potsdam. edu/alcohol/Controversies/1119636699. html#. U7nCqvldVhs.
