Anonymous asked this question on 3/26/2000:

what do you know about the charge for public intoxication? is it a permanent record? does a court have a choice of whether it can be expunged from a record? what about the age of the record? and what if it is the only charge on a record? in reference to employers, what do you know about the weight of this type of charge.

Poe gave this response on 3/27/2000:

In most localities, public intoxication is a misdemeanor charge. It can be part of a permenant record, but in most cases, only locally. That is to say, if you are in another state for instance, and stopped for some reason, and your ID is run for outstanding warrants, etc, it would not show up on a national level; only locally. It is interesting to note, that this charge was at one time, referred to as public drunkeness, but many localities changed the wording of the charge so that it would include intoxication from any source, such as drugs, etc, since drunkeness only referred to alcohol. It usually takes an attorney to have a record expunged, and in some cases a record may not be expunged if a conviction was entered. The cost to have a record expunged can be expensive. I am not sure of the criteria for expunging a misdemeanor charge. Many things may play a factor in getting this charge removed. For example: the type of charge, the status(convicted or overturned),how long the charge has been on record, etc. You should consult an attorney in your area. As far as employers go, many of the same things will be considered, like, how long ago the charge was, your age at the time, the status of the charge, any subsequent charges, etc. Of course, the longer ago the conviction, with no subsequent charges would be to your advantage. Also, many employers may not even consider misdemeanor charges, especially of this nature. They would most likely be more interested in theft charges, etc, but then again, that could depend upon the employer and nature of the job you are seeking. Good luck! I hope this has helped.