January 25, 2002		2002-R-0074
RECORD OF PRIOR ALCOHOL-RELATED DRIVING OFFENSES
By: James J. Fazzalaro, Principal Research Analyst

You asked if convictions for driving while under the influence of alcohol (DWI) or records that a person has taken the pretrial alcohol education program in lieu of a DWI prosecution are maintained in a driver history for more than three years. You also wanted to know how long prior alcohol-related driving offenses are maintained on driver histories in states neighboring Connecticut.

Connecticut DWI laws establish a 10-year “lookback” period for determining if an offender has a prior DWI conviction and thus comes under the more stringent criminal penalties for repeat offenders (CGS §§ 14-227a(h), 14-1(69)). The law was changed in 1995 to extend the lookback period for DWI, driving while under suspension, evading responsibility, and racing from five to 10 years, and decrease the period for all other motor vehicle violations from five to three years. Thus the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) must maintain a DWI conviction on a driver history for 10 years in order to determine if a violator has a prior offense, but only has to keep most other violations on the record for three years.

The law allows someone charged with DWI to apply to the court for participation in the pretrial alcohol education program. If the court grants the application and the offender successfully completes the program, he may return to court and the DWI charge can be dismissed

(CGS § 54-56g). However, the law prohibits the program from being invoked on someone's behalf more than once, so DMV must maintain a record of participation on the driver history so that the court can determine if an accused has previously been in the program.

Most states typically use a period of five, seven, or 10 years for determining a prior DWI offense. For the states immediately surrounding Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York use a 10-year period and Rhode Island and New Jersey use a five-year period.

JJF:eh