The penalties for conviction of a DWI in New Jersey depend on whether there’s any priors; is it a first offense, second offense, third offense.  Let’s talk first about the financial impact of a conviction.

On a first offense you’re going to be fined by the court, you’re going to be subject to a surcharge for three years of $1,000.00, so that’s $3,000.00 in total and then on top of it, your insurance rates are going to skyrocket.  So what we’re talking about is a significant financial undertaking on your part in the event that you’re convicted.

These penalties in terms of the financial impact only get more serious for a second and third conviction.  What’s the importance of this whole discussion?  The importance is if you are in a situation where it’s your first offense, you want to take it seriously; you need to hire an attorney to make sure that you have every opportunity to avoid the conviction because you don’t know what’s going to happen down the road.  

God forbid you are looking at a third down the road, that’s jail, six months in jail so you need to take it serious from the outset and thank you for your time.