While DUI offenses can have serious consequences, it is rare that an underage individual in West Palm Beach would have to go to jail for a first offense DUI. If, however, the facts and circumstances of the case or such that a jail sentence might be required either by a prosecutor, the judge or by rule of law. If you have been charged with an underage DUI offense, and you want to know more about underage DUI alternate sentencing in West Palm Beach it is important to get in contact with an attorney. A capable underage DUI lawyer that could help pursue your options and work towards the best possible outcome for you.
In-Patient Facilities
Depending on the factors of their case, a person could pursue underage DUI alternate sentencing in West Palm Beach. There is a possibility that a person can enroll in and successfully complete residential treatment in an in-patient facility. If a person did decide to do that on their own volition or following the recommendation of a licensed mental health professional, it is at the Court’s discretion whether or not to give the underage individual day-for-day credit towards a jail sentence for any and every day that the person spends in residential treatment.
If the defendant gets 28 days in a residential facility and the required sentence either negotiated or handed out by the judge, so if it is 28 days in jail, the judge has the discretion to give the individual day-for-day credit or 28 days credit towards the 28-day jail sentence for the 28 days that the defendant did in a residential treatment facility.
Determining Whether Someone is Eligible for House Arrest or Not
In determining whether or not a person may be available for in-house arrest or a work release, there is an application process that is determined by the sheriff’s office and involves a local record sheriff to make sure that they are a local resident. The person must have no violent offenses on their record.
There are certain disqualifying offenses on a person’s record that if they have them, arrests or otherwise, would disqualify the person from being considered for house arrest or work release and so the sheriff must approve the person for security reasons. To qualify, they must be living and residing in the county, so that they can be supervised and of course the judge would have to sign off on it.
Most judges have standing orders that allow alternative sentences to be available to a defendant, specifically an underage defendant unless otherwise ordered by the court. The person must undergo an application process and the person must have resources to pay for these alternative jail sentences.
House Arrest as an Alternative to Jail
The other option for underage DUI alternate sentencing in West Palm Beach is the possibility of getting house arrest. House arrest would mean that instead of spending time in a jail cell, an individual would be confined to their home. They would wear an ankle monitor. Their movements would be severely restricted and only on a schedule and they will be tethered to a GPS monitor so that the sheriff can monitor their whereabouts at all times. That is not an automatic thing. That goes from courtroom to courtroom and case to case and it is done on an individual basis, case-by-case basis and is determined by the sheriff’s office, if not the court, but usually the sheriff’s office.
Work Release as an Alternative to Incarceration
Another underage DUI alternate sentencing in West Palm Beach option is work release. If someone has a job they may be allowed out during the day to perform their jobs, so they do not lose their job and as long as they have verified transportation to and from the jail and have no prior violent record or history of escape, they may be eligible to get that. Another alternative to house arrest, work release, and residential treatment would be to do their sentence on the weekends so that the person can still do their job or can still go to school or do both during the weekend but from Friday night until Monday morning, they are in custody.
There are several available alternatives to an underage individual in West Palm Beach that may have been charged with a DUI. Instead of going jail, they may be able to do one of those four described. The requirements for qualifying for these types of alternative sentences vary. For residential treatment, a person has to have someone that is going to accept them into a residential treatment program and they have to have someone that is going to pay for the residential treatment program. The court is not going to pay for it. The person’s attorney is not going to pay for it. Typically, an underage individual would look towards family or for insurance coverage for those resources to see if they are available.
