Rehabilitation and licence after a DUI

It is the part of Chapter VII that happens after conviction: the ASSMCA report, the court’s deadlines, the driver improvement course, the temporary licence, how the licence is recovered and in which cases the court may suspend the prison sentence. It is not the penalty ladder — that is in Article 7.04 and has its own guide — but the way out.

Article 7.07 applies in every case where a person is convicted of violating Articles 7.01, 7.02, 7.03, 7.05 and 7.06 of Act 22-2000, whether by guilty plea or after the evidence is weighed at trial. The suspended sentence in Article 7.08 is not available for convictions under Article 7.06 — grave bodily harm or death — or where the person is considered a repeat offender under that Chapter.

• Being convicted of violating Articles 7.01, 7.02, 7.03, 7.05 or 7.06 of Act 22-2000, whether by guilty plea or after trial. From there the Article 7.07 procedure is compulsory for the court.Verified against the official source
• For the suspended sentence in Article 7.08: that the conviction not be under Article 7.06 and that the person not be considered a repeat offender under Chapter VII.Verified against the official source

Information pending verification.

1. 1

   Step 1: Thirty days for ASSMCA, ten for the court

   Article 7.07(a) requires the court to order the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration to carry out a thorough investigation, with a report delivered within thirty days of the order. The report includes the person’s criminal record and history with intoxicating drinks, narcotic drugs, marijuana or stimulant or depressant substances, in order to determine whether they would benefit from ASSMCA’s rehabilitation programme run with the Department of Transportation and Public Works. And the report “shall state whether the convicted person is a repeat offender”. Article 7.07(b) gives the court its own deadline: it shall set the sentencing hearing and pass sentence within a period of not more than ten days counted from the date that report is due.

2. 2

   Step 2: What the court looks at to call you a “drinker or addict”

   Article 7.07(e) defines the term and gives the criteria. A drinker or addict is anyone who voluntarily admits being alcoholic or addicted to drugs or controlled substances, or who has been medically diagnosed as such. Otherwise the court may weigh three circumstances: a history of prior contacts with social or medical service agencies over problems with drink, drugs or controlled substances; reports of legal, family, social, financial or work difficulties caused by their use; and one or more prior convictions for related offences. The Act also defines “rehabilitation” broadly: any kind of treatment, orientation, counselling or advice the responsible body determines.

3. 3

   Step 3: The driver improvement course and its two clocks

   Article 7.07(f) says that on passing sentence the court may suspend the driving licence until the person takes and passes the driver improvement course established by the Department of Transportation and Public Works, or until the rehabilitation body certifies they are fit to drive. And it puts two clocks on the course: it shall start within a period of not more than thirty days after the court order decreeing the suspension, and shall not run longer than thirty days after starting.

4. 4

   Step 4: The temporary licence with restrictions

   Article 7.07(g) opens a door worth knowing about: where the person’s circumstances, duly evidenced to the Court, warrant granting them a temporary licence to drive motor vehicles, the Court may so order, imposing whatever restrictions it deems necessary to protect society and guarantee public safety. Those restrictions may limit the type of vehicle, the places where it may be driven and the hours and days of the week when driving is authorised, and all of that shall be recorded on the licence issued.

5. 5

   Step 5: If you drop out, the sentence is executed

   Article 7.07(h) is short and hard. If the person refuses to take part in the rehabilitation and counselling programme or the driver improvement course, or fails to appear, or breaks the rules established for the programme, or discontinues their participation, the Administrator of Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services or the Secretary shall notify the court, which will vacate the order suspending the sentence and order it executed.

6. 6

   Step 6: Three ways to get the licence back, and one is the State’s delay

   Article 7.07(i) names three. When the rehabilitation body certifies the person is fit to drive motor vehicles; when the person passes the driver improvement course established by the Department; or “when by the Department’s act or omission the driver improvement course does not start or is not completed within the term provided in this Article”. In any of the three, “the Secretary shall immediately restore that person’s driving licence, without the restrictions previously imposed, if any”. The third is the one almost nobody invokes: if the course did not start within thirty days or was not completed in the next thirty through the Department’s fault, the licence comes back.

7. 7

   Step 7: Hospitalisation: only by order and never more than three straight months

   Article 7.07(d) says that if during rehabilitation ASSMCA determines the person needs hospitalisation and they do not agree voluntarily, ASSMCA shall ask the court to order it, to take place in a public or private institution previously approved by ASSMCA. If the person believes they do not need it and can present medical testimony to that effect, they shall ask the Court to excuse them and let them continue outpatient treatment. And the Act sets a ceiling: “In no case may a person be hospitalised for treatment, under the provisions of this Article, for a period longer than three (3) consecutive months”. At the hospitalised person’s request, or in view of their progress, the court may at any time review, modify or vacate the order.

8. 8

   Step 8: The suspended sentence, with two exclusions

   Article 7.08 says the Court may suspend the effects of the prison sentence imposed under this Chapter, “with the exception of convictions under Article 7.06, which shall not have the benefit of a suspended sentence. Nor shall that benefit be available where the person is considered a repeat offender under this Chapter”. That is: grave bodily harm and death are out, and so is the repeat offender.

9. 9

   Step 9: Thirty days of community service, and what for

   Where the sentence is suspended, Article 7.08 requires the person to serve thirty days of community service. The Department of Correction, coordinating with the Office of Court Administration, establishes and maintains a compulsory community work programme, and the Act says what for: that people convicted under Chapter VII “become aware of the risks and adverse consequences that driving a vehicle while intoxicated carries”. Corrections may enter agreements with public and private health centres and hospitals, with non-profit organisations and with entities promoting traffic safety. The programme shall allow the service to be performed outside working or study hours where needed, so as not to interrupt employment or academic work, and the agreement shall provide for attendance certification and evaluation of the work done. If the person fails to appear, is absent or breaks the rules, Corrections notifies the court, which will vacate the suspension and order the sentence executed.

All of this moves inside the criminal case, before the Court of First Instance that passes sentence, orders the report, grants or refuses the temporary licence and orders hospitalisation where needed. The investigation and report are delivered by the Mental Health and Anti-Addiction Services Administration. The driver improvement course and the restoration of the licence run through the Department of Transportation and Public Works. The community work programme is administered by the Department of Correction with the Office of Court Administration.

• Believing sentence comes the same day as conviction: the ASSMCA report comes first, with thirty days, and the court sentences within the next ten.
• Thinking the report only speaks to addiction: it also states whether the person is a repeat offender.
• Assuming you must admit to being alcoholic for the court to find it: it may weigh prior contacts with agencies, legal, family, social, financial or work difficulties, and prior convictions.
• Not asking for the temporary licence: Article 7.07(g) allows it where circumstances, evidenced to the Court, warrant it.
• Believing the licence comes back on its own with time: it comes back on passing the course, on the rehabilitation body certifying you, or if the Department is late.
• Ignoring the course’s two deadlines: thirty days to start it from the order and thirty more as its maximum length.
• Not invoking the third route in subsection (i): if by the Department’s act or omission the course does not start or finish in time, the Secretary restores the licence immediately.
• Dropping out of the programme: refusing, failing to appear, breaking the rules or discontinuing makes the court vacate the suspension and order the sentence executed.
• Believing hospitalisation can be indefinite: never more than three consecutive months.
• Thinking a suspended sentence is available in every case: it is not for convictions under Article 7.06 or for repeat offenders under Chapter VII.
• Assuming the suspension is free: it requires thirty days of community service.
• Fearing you will lose your job over the community service: the programme allows it to be served outside working or study hours where needed.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Transportación y Obras Públicas (DTOP)

  DTOP

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov