Increasingly, people convicted of DWI are getting the option to avoid or minimize jail time by agreeing to wear alcohol-monitoring ankle bracelets.

The bracelets - sometimes called SCRAM devices - work by continuously monitoring the alcohol that is emitted in the wearer's sweat. If the device detects a blood alcohol content greater than 0.02, it automatically notifies the wearer's probation officer of the infraction.

The bracelets also have GPS functionality, meaning that they can track where the wearer goes and whether the wearer is complying with a court-ordered curfew.

Eerie County Sherriff's office recently charged both husband and wife with felony driving while intoxicated (DWI). The interesting twist: they were both charged with a felony DWI while in the same vehicle. WIVB reports that witnesses claim the husband and wife switched places as drivers before police arrived at the accident scene.

Why a Felony Charge?

It is likely the wife would have faced no charges if she had remained in the passenger seat. By moving to the driver's seat and having the keys to the vehicle in her possession, she showed intent to operate, even if she never actually drove the vehicle. Under New York law, intent to operate a vehicle satisfies the requirements for a DWI charge.

Oswego County legislator Doug Malone was arrested for driving while intoxicated this summer after he stopped to help a friend who had been injured in a single-vehicle motorcycle accident.

Malone's case illustrates an important fact that all New York drivers need to understand - under New York drunk driving laws, you can be charged with DWI even if police did not actually observe you operating a vehicle under the influence.

In September, an off-duty NYPD officer was arrested and charged with drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter after running over a 22-year-old pedestrian with his 2011 Honda Accord.

Twenty-five-year-old Luis Arnao, who had been on the force for only a year, had a blood-alcohol level of .07, above the .05 legal threshold but short of the .08 that proves intoxication in New York, when he hit the victim in Wakefield, a neighborhood in the Bronx. Chisholm was crossing White Plains Road, walking home from a party at 4 a.m., when he was struck.

Scandal has hit the New York City Police Department once again, and this time it's giving an unintended boost to New Yorkers facing the consequences of a DWI charge or other legal infraction.

A three-year investigation by the Bronx District Attorney's Office has resulted in the indictment of 17 NYPD officers on charges that the officers illegally "fixed" tickets to help friends and family avoid prosecution for traffic violations. An additional 550 officers are expected to face departmental charges.

Two recent drunk driving incidents offer a good reminder that a car is not the only place where someone can get a DWI.

In Beaver County, Pennsylvania, a man was arrested for driving drunk on his lawn tractor. The man assaulted the police officer who arrested him, which means he now faces both assault and DWI penalties.

This incident comes nearly a month after a story about a "drunk clown" hit New York news.

Anelli Xavier DWI defense attorney Tom Anelli was recently quoted in a New York Law Journal article about ignition interlock devices and New York's Leandra's Law. The article discussed the large percentage - 56 percent - of defendants who do not install ignition interlock devices after being ordered to do so by a court.

Many of these defendants are not circumventing the law. Instead, they simply sell or transfer title of their cars to avoid paying the hefty costs of ignition interlock devices. As a well-respected New York DWI defense attorney, Tom Anelli weighed in on the issue, asking "If you can't have a license for three to five years, why go through the expense of paying for an interlock if you can't drive anyway?"

Source: New York Law Journal, "Only Half of Interlock Devices Ordered After Leandra Law Violations Are Actually Installed," John Caher, August 24, 2011

The New York driving while intoxicated (DWI) and vehicular assault case of Derek Backus, a former Syracuse police officer, has come to an end after several appeals.

In August 2006, a car driven by Backus crossed the center line of Route 57, colliding with a car traveling in the opposite direction. The off-duty Backus was found to have a blood alcohol content (BAC) level of 0.14 at the time of the accident.

As part of a plea that allowed Backus to avoid being sentenced to state prison, Backus pled guilty to New York DWI and vehicular assault. He was sentenced to two consecutive one-year terms in a county correctional facility. After serving eight months - long enough to fulfill the first sentence - Backus appealed the sentence.