Contrary to what you see or
hear on DUI police
chases, a DUI charge doesn’t necessarily mean jail time. North
Carolina state law is clear on the matter.
You’re less likely to land
behind bars for DUI under the following conditions: (1) it’s your
first DUI offense; and (2) the offense is considered a level-3
misdemeanor or below. For a DUI to register as a level-5 misdemeanor,
the lowest, state law requires efforts to mitigate the risk outweigh
the efforts to aggravate the crime.
Although a level-5
misdemeanor has a minimum jail time of 24 hours, a judge can
substitute the term of imprisonment for community service for the
same amount of time. Mitigating factors, as per state law, include a
BAC of no more than 0.09, a clean driving record, impairment caused
by a drug prescribed to treat a condition, and voluntary submission
to authorities, among others.
Alternatively, jail time can
still happen but under probation. Unlike imprisonment, probation is a
less serious sentence that has proven itself just as effective in
reforming a violator. Sometimes, probation is the more preferred
sentence because it saves the local government money. A study in 2009
shows that probation costs $1.29 per day less than imprisonment.
Regarding BAC, take note
that North Carolina has “zero tolerance” in effect. This means
the allowable BAC for drivers should be at zero percent. In other
words, no alcohol.
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