Can I go to jail for driving with a suspended license in New Jersey?

Can I go to jail for driving with a suspended license in New Jersey?

A lot of people who get into various kinds of trouble wonder, “Can I go to jail?”

Well, if that particular question is on your mind and you have found yourself reading this, the answer is probably “Yes.”

An important follow-up question, however, is “Will I go to jail?, or “Is it likely I will go to jail?”  

The answer to those questions is “It depends.”   There is a difference between “Can I go to jail?” and “Will I go to jail?”

Most people don’t know that you can go to jail for an awful lot of things, including certain traffic and motor vehicle violations, including driving while suspended.

For instance, if you are convicted in New Jersey of driving while suspended, and it’s your third conviction, the law provides for at least a mandatory 10-day jail sentence.   (N.J.S.A. 39:3-40)   You can even go to jail for a second violation.   And if you think jail is the biggest of your problems, guess again.  Jail may be the beginning of a whole range of penalties, depending on why your license was suspended in the first place.  Driving while your license is suspended is a very serious matter in New Jersey. 

So the answer to the questions is most definitely “Yes” if the questions are “Can I go to jail for driving while suspended?” or “Can I go to jail when my license is suspended?”

But that’s not the end of the story.   And that’s good news if you have the right lawyer.

Any good lawyer knows that there are ways to avoid a conviction for driving while your license is suspended, depending on the reason your license was suspended in the first place and the circumstances involved.   So you might want to give us a call at 732-359-0242 if you get pulled over and ticketed for driving with a suspended license.

Even if you were definitely driving with a suspended license, and you are facing mandatory jail time, a good lawyer can help you avoid jail under the right conditions, or at least find some way to reduce the penalties, if not get the charges thrown out altogether.   The circumstances vary, and you shouldn’t take this blog post as any kind of guarantee as to the outcome of your particular situation, but a call to 732-359-0242 might be a good idea.

And if 10 days in jail doesn’t seem like a lot of time, think back to what you were doing ten days ago and everything that has happened between now and then.   Now try to imagine all that time in the not-so-comfortable confines of jail.   And if you think just one day in jail is no big deal, try explaining to your employer what you were doing during that time.

And if you haven’t been inside any of our many county jails in New Jersey, you probably don’t want to have a first visit.   They may not all be the worst places in the world, but they are definitely not “nice” places, and there are probably some people in some of those jails that you probably don’t want to meet just because you were caught driving with a suspended license.

Now, if you are caught driving while your license is suspended and you cause an accident, or if you are caught driving while suspended and the reason for the suspension is because of a DUI or DWI conviction, then you really need to call lawyer, and fast.    You are facing serious penalties, including some really long jail time, and you need to take steps to reduce those penalties as much as possible, or to find a way to have the charges thrown out or dismissed if possible.   A good lawyer knows how to do that depending on the facts and the law involved.   And any lawyer at CJ Brennan, LLC is a good lawyer.

CJ Brennan Law has been serving the Jersey Shore for almost a quarter century.  We handle cases like driving with a suspended license in towns like Manasquan, Point Pleasant, Sea Girt, Brielle, Belmar, Avon, Asbury Park, Bradley Beach, Spring Lake, Spring Lake Heights, Wall Township, Howell Township, Allenhurst, Deal, Long Branch, Sea Bright, Monmouth Beach, Seaside, Lavallette, Bay Head, Mantoloking, Brick, and all of Monmouth County, Ocean County, Mercer County, and statewide in New Jersey.

Give us a call at 732-359-0242 to see how we can help you.   Life presents problems.   We find solutions.  732-359-0242.