Historical changes in grading of a crime

**gnbrotz** · March 27th, 2019, 07:00 PM

Is there a way for a non-attorney to figure out how various DUI offenses were graded long in the past? I'm trying to figure out if there is any type of DUI conviction, handed down in 1962, that would be prohibiting in terms of a LTCF.

Today, my wife had a walk in for senior related services (she works for the county). The person was sent there by our county sheriff (the actual man, not someone in the office) for "help" getting a DUI conviction from 1962 removed from his record, as the sheriff assured this person they otherwise cannot be issued a LTCF. Why the sheriff thought this was a realistic path for resolution is beyond me, and this person may not ever return to the site he was sent to, as they were obviously unable to help him.

I'm just trying to answer the legal question in my own mind, and learn how to "look back" and see what penalties for crimes were in years gone by, as I may be able to use it in the future.

**ideaman** · March 27th, 2019, 07:08 PM

I went thru West Goshen Police Citizens Police Academy. We asked a prosecutor how do they determine how they charge and punish a crime. He said
they use numbers. What???? If no past crimes, that equals a zero, something minor, maybe 1 or 2 etc. on up. The total determines the punishment.

**gnbrotz** · March 27th, 2019, 07:11 PM

Originally Posted by ideaman

I went thru West Goshen Police Citizens Police Academy. We asked a prosecutor how do they determine how they charge and punish a crime. He said
they use numbers. What???? If no past crimes, that equals a zero, something minor, maybe 1 or 2 etc. on up. The total determines the punishment.

I'm looking for information actually contained within the law. The problem is, that changes over time, so when I look at the current statute, it isn't an accurate reflection of the same offense/penalty 50 years ago.

**knight0334** · March 27th, 2019, 11:32 PM

A lawyer would be able to look up what the offense and grading was from older law books. However, the first thing to do is look up his specific conviction was. Even back when, there may have been different gradings for specific elements of the DUI like there is today.

If his conviction is in fact prohibiting, his only courses of action are pardon+expungement, or relief of disabilities in court due to current matching offense being a non-prohibiting offense, or relief due to it being a non-violent act and having a clean lifestyle since. (there was a relatively recent 3rd Circuit ruling that said non-violent misdemeanors cannot be permanent prohibitors, or something like that)

**GunLawyer001** · March 27th, 2019, 11:48 PM

You won't find it online, you need to have the books. Every county has a law library, they can sometimes help, if you have the exact citation.

**gnbrotz** · March 28th, 2019, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by knight0334

A lawyer would be able to look up what the offense and grading was from older law books. However, the first thing to do is look up his specific conviction was. Even back when, there may have been different gradings for specific elements of the DUI like there is today.

If his conviction is in fact prohibiting, his only courses of action are pardon+expungement, or relief of disabilities in court due to current matching offense being a non-prohibiting offense, or relief due to it being a non-violent act and having a clean lifestyle since. (there was a relatively recent 3rd Circuit ruling that said non-violent misdemeanors cannot be permanent prohibitors, or something like that)

Originally Posted by GunLawyer001

You won't find it online, you need to have the books. Every county has a law library, they can sometimes help, if you have the exact citation.

I thought this might be the answer. It's a wonder that the old book aren't available digitally somewhere, even for a fee. I supposed there's not enough demand for the totality to be available to justify all the work that would go into that.

I happen to have the day off tomorrow. I already have plenty on my plate, but I may stop by the law library just to get my feet wet. I've never been. I don't have a specific charge to look up, but it will at least be interesting to see what the applicable laws looked like then, compared to now.