What are the Penalties for a DUI in Atlanta?

Atlanta Municipal Court

As an Atlanta DUI Lawyer, I often explain the penalties and consequences that happen from a charge for DUI in Atlanta.

The state of Georgia has some of the most serious and strict DUI laws in the country. There is also no way to get a DUI conviction off of someone's record. The other hard part is that getting arrested for DUI is a horrible and humiliating experience. And unfortunately, most of the time when a person accepts a guilty plea for DUI, they don't fully understand the future penalties. DUI penalties are lifelong consequences.

In today's post, I will outline the consequences – both from the legal perspective and from the daily life perspective.

DUI Penalties in Atlanta 

There are penalties that are mandated by the DUI statute.  These penalties include a fine minimum of $300.00 and a maximum of $1,000.00, ten days to 12 months of imprisonment, a minimum of 40 hours of community service, and successful completion of DUI school.

There are also lifelong consequences. These include a mark on your criminal record, potential loss of employment, loss of commercial driver's license, temporary impounding of your car at your expense, loss of professional accreditation, social stigma, and difficulty in finding other employment or securing loans.

Even for the DUI arrest, there are penalties. For every DUI arrest, there are both administrative (civil) and criminal penalties that you could face upon conviction. The administrative penalties will be dealt with by the Georgia Department of Driver Services (DDS) and the criminal penalties can be found in the Official Code of Georgia Annotated (OCGA). The penalties for a first time driving under the influence offense are less severe than subsequent offenses, provided that the first-time DUI did not involve any other aggravated circumstances such as the injury or death of another individual. 

Practice Note

No matter how humiliating or horrible the arrest is, the most important thing to remember is that you are not alone. If you have been arrested, call our offices now. Having an Atlanta DUI Attorney in your corner is beyond helpful.

Not only can we help you with the legal complexities, but we also specialize in customer satisfaction. We make sure that we are available to all of our clients as much as possible.

The sooner you call our offices, the faster we can help you to avoid the consequences and penalties that come along with a DUI conviction.