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DWI Records

Driving While Intoxicated or DWI is a serious traffic violation charge, present in all state jurisdictions. While many consider the term DWI as opposed to DUI, less serious in nature, this is a grand misnomer, as both terms denote the same severity of crime. The only reason that there is a difference in terms is how each state chooses to call the crime. Most states use DUI to denote this crime, while still a handful of others use either DWI, OUI (Operating Under the Influence), or OWI (Operating While Intoxicated). For the purposes of this discussion, we will review the significance of DWI records and offenses, how it is defined, as well as what factors can influence how DWI records are characterized and listed in a particular individual’s criminal DWI records.

Driving while intoxicated is a term that refers to all incidents in which criminals are caught operating their vehicles with a blood alcohol level or any bodily drug amount over the legal limit. This limit, which used to be varied according to the state in which the criminal was charged and processed, is now, the same number for every state-0.8. This means that no one over the age of 21 may have a blood alcohol level of 0.8, which loosely is the equivalent of one drink. This standard was put in place to negate any variables that may affect different persons as regards intoxication levels; since there had to a system to evaluate intoxication in all operators of vehicles. So, consequently, it has no bearing on a particular DWI charge if the person is male or female, has a faster rate of metabolism, or is a large or small individual: across the board, anyone caught with a blood alcohol level of 0.8 will be arrested for DWI.

Depending on a couple of different variables, a DWI offense will be charged-and recorded in their DWI records and criminal records- as either a misdemeanor or a felony-each records classification carrying with it much different penalties and long term criminal records consequences (i.e. listings in DWI records). The first and most weighted of influential factors as regards records classification of DWI records crimes, is in what state jurisdiction the DWI occurred. Many states consider a first time offense with no large amounts of damage done to person or property a misdemeanor records classification. On the other hand, if damage has been done to property or person, if a death as has been a result of the crime, or if the criminal is a repeat offender; all states will order these felonies, with most of them, ordering mandatory, “no tolerance” jail time for criminals of this crime. Within each criminal records classification-misdemeanors and felonies-there are a wide range of further category of crime, to which crimes are subjected to according to state rule of conduct. This, in turn, is directly related to what is reported in a person’s DWI records.

Not only does a state influence whether a crime with be classified as a misdemeanor or a felony, but they also have control over which types of crimes and DWI records can be available to the public. For example, some states allow arrest records to be available to the public, even if the defendant was not convicted of the crime. Others only allow records in which the criminal was convicted be accessible to the public. Moreover, many states only consider felony criminal records significant as regards public background information; while still others allow access to both misdemeanor and felony criminal records. Also, if a criminal is able to prove that they are worthy, in many cases, a first time offense-or one with extenuating circumstances-can be plead down to either a lesser class of misdemeanor or from a felony to a misdemeanor-thereby affecting the punishment of said individual, as well as the severity of the criminal records. Lastly, alongside lesser charges, many times a state jurisdiction will allow for alternative sentencing-such as probation-which serves as an alternative means of serving a prison sentence. If a criminal is given this luxury, they are able to instead-commit to community service, educational services, drug/alcohol counseling, and other non-prison programs and obligations outside of prison. This can not only affect the individual’s life, but also, soften the charges listed in their particular criminal records.

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