It is important for a minor charged for a DUI as an adult in West Palm Beach to work with a lawyer because this offense will follow them into their adult life. These types of incidents are unfortunate and while the trauma may be over with after a person has been released or after they have completed the sentence, the record that they might have as a result of this arrest will follow them around forever. It follows them from job to job. It will follow them from school to school. It will follow every year when they go to renew their insurance. That is why it is important for individuals to collaborate with attorneys that have experience handling underage DUI charges. A capable underage DUI attorney could pursue a positive outcome for them.
Blood Alcohol Content in Underage DUI Cases
The blood alcohol level for a DUI is the same whether a person is a minor or adult. If a person is under the age of 21, they are not legally allowed to possess or consume alcohol in the State of Florida. While the legal limit for DUI is 0.08, the State of Florida has zero tolerance for anyone under the age of 21 driving with any alcohol in their system. A minor charged for a DUI as an adult in West Palm Beach will face the same consequences that adults face. Adult DUI blood alcohol level is the same as juvenile DUI blood alcohol level. In fact, there is no different law for an adult or juvenile. A DUI is a DUI whether a person is eight or 80, their rules are the same.
If someone under the age of 21 is stopped for any traffic offense whatsoever and the law enforcement officer smells alcohol on or about the person’s breath or person, the law enforcement officer has the right to ask that underage driver to submit to a portable breath test. If the results of that portable breath test are 0.02 or higher, meaning one-quarter of the legal limit, that person is subject to a six months driver’s license suspension if they are under the age of 21 or below the authorized to possess or consume alcohol.
Consulting a Legal Advocate
If an underage individual is charged with a DUI offense, it is important to have a local lawyer who knows the local rules, the local judges, local policies, what the local discretion each Judge or each Prosecutor may have, and what the history of policies and precedents are in the individual city where they are arrested. Also, it is important that the attorney treats the individual with respect and with the fact in mind that this can affect everything going forward for them and that any and every opportunity that their parents have worked so hard for their child to have might be eliminated as a result of them getting a DUI.
Value of a West Palm Beach Underage DUI Attorney
It is important for a child or underage adult charged as an adult to hire a local West Palm Beach DUI lawyer because the consequences of for being a minor charged for a DUI as an adult in West Palm Beach could stay on their record for the rest of their life. An attorney’s job is to try and preserve the young person’s opportunities, preserve the young person’s choices for later in life, to make sure that this DUI charge does not forbid them or foreclose them from taking or choosing any opportunities that they may want for themselves or the opportunity that their parents have worked so hard for them to have a choice on.
