Drunk Driving (From National Victim Assistance Academy, P 13.1 - 13.21, 2000, Anne Seymour, Morna Murray, eds. et al., -- See NCJ 184052)

• NCJ Number: 184070
• Author(s): Janice Lord; Stephanie Frogge
• Date Published: 2000
• Length: 21 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: Office for Victims of Crime (OVC)
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; OVC Resource Ctr
• Publication Series: OVC Others
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter considers victim assistance, prevention programs, and aggressive public policy regarding drunk driving.

Abstract

Before the 1980s, drunk driving was considered unfortunate but socially acceptable. Victims were thought to have been in the wrong place at the wrong time, unable to avoid what were considered “accidents.” With the advent of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other grassroots victim groups, crash victims are no longer simply an amorphous mass of statistics. They have names, and faces and their tragedies are rightly considered crimes. A combination of victim assistance, prevention programs, and aggressive public policy has resulted in a 40-percent drop in drunk driving deaths since 1980. The chapter discusses grassroots efforts that led to a nationwide movement against drunk driving; the impact of drunk driving on the victim; current research on drunk driving crash victims; suggestions for drunk driving victim services; and promising practices in drunk driving public policy and public awareness. In addition to a statistical overview of drunk driving, the chapter also presents statistics on alcohol and youth and alcohol and crime. References