Minimum Penalties for a Georgia DUI First Offense

If you are a first offender the penalties for that are set by law as mandatory minimum punishments. The mandatory minimum punishments for a first offender DUI is 24 hours in jail, 40 hours community service, fines of $300 to $1,000 depending on the judge’s decision, risk reduction school, which is a 24 hour course in order to get your license reinstated, drug and alcohol evaluations and treatments if necessary, and 12 months probation.

Minimum Penalties for Georgia DUI Second Offense

If you are a second offender in five years the penalties for that are set by law as mandatory minimum punishments. The second offense DUI is treated much more harshly than the first offense. The minimum jail time is 72 hours but more realistically you are going to spend about a week to two weeks in jail with most judges for a second offense in five years. In addition to that the fines are going to be $600 to $1,000 dollars plus surcharges. You are going to have twelve months probation at a minimum, 240 hours community service, your driver’s license is suspended for three years but the first twelve months you can’t drive for any purpose whatsoever. You can only drive the next six months after that first twelve months, if you put ignition lock on your car. Your tags are confiscated; you are going to have to do at least 17 weeks of alcohol treatment courses. You also are going to have your photo published in the newspaper in the county where you reside or if you are from out of state in the county where you were arrested.

Minimum Penalties for a Georgia DUI Third (or more) Offense

If you are a third offender in five years the penalties for that are set by law as mandatory minimum punishments. A third offense within five years or more than a third offense within five years, the punishment increases even more. The minimum period of time that you will spend in jail is 15 days but realistically most courts are going to give you 30 days to as much as one year in jail depending on the circumstances of your arrest. In addition to that, 240 hours community service. You are going to have the tags removed from your car by court order. Anything in your name is going to have the tags removed. You are going to have to go through a seventeen-week course of alcohol rehabilitation at a minimum—it could be longer. You are also going to have photo publication of your picture in the paper. Also, you are going to have probation of not less than 12 months depending upon how much time you spend in jail. These punishments are very similar to the second offense case except the jail time is more significant and your license suspension is going to be longer. Instead of 12 months of hard suspension for the adult driver, it is 24 months minimum hard suspension on a 5 year suspension and you have to go for six months with ignition lock. If you are under 21, you will have to wait 30 months before you are going to get a license again, if your case is disposed when you are under age 21.