A judge can give many different punishments or sentences in a DUI case in Los Angeles. One of these is undoubtedly community service, and there are many other forms of community work.
The harshest punishment that the judge can give – and usually this is given in place of jail – would be Caltrans. Those are the people you see on the freeway in the orange jumpsuits picking up trash. This is particularly dangerous.
It's also tough to do, in the sense that you have to get up real early – 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning – and they only have so many spots available, and if you don't get one, you just wasted your time going out there. Caltrans is not the best sentence somebody could get, but if you want to avoid jail time for your DUI sentence, this form of community service.
PAWS Program
There're also other forms of community service related to your DUI that are very close to this. For example, the PAWS Program and community labor are more complex than the easy community service in this same area.
This is physical work – working at a park or a beach. They're different things that they can make you do, depending on what is needed in the community. In addition, there is community service.
This is usually a more accessible form of work where you can work in an office – it's not necessarily physical labor – and it's safe for those offenders who are obviously on the low end of the offense scale. It's typically an 8 to 10-hour day. You can often get rid of most of the DUI fines if you get community service instead. This is viable for those who don't have the money to pay $2,000 to $3,000 related to a DUI case.
Another form of community service is the easy community service which is saved for those who may be injured – it's called light community service – you bring forth medical documentation showing that you cannot do physical work.
Often, we can get light community service instead of some harsh community service where you're going to injure yourself. So, there are all forms of community service. Whether you do, community service has to do with many factors. Your DUI defense attorney will be your best source in figuring out what type of community service you might end up with related to your DUI.
Failure to Complete Community Service
The bottom line is that if you don't do your community service and violate your probation and your sentence, the judge will probably end up happening if the judge is just going to throw you in jail.
It's easier for the judge if someone is not doing their community service sentence related to a DUI case to throw you in jail because then you'll serve your jail sentence, and then you'll be done.
That's something you really can't mess up because once you surrender, that's it. The authorities have you, and they're going to have you serve whatever percentage of time they have you do, then you'll get out, and you'll be back on probation.
Suppose you have community service questions related to DUIs. In that case, every court in Los Angeles has a community service office within the court where you can go – they have all the different community services court in Los Angeles has a community service office within the court where you can go – they have all the other community services that you can do.
They have a sheet, and you can talk to the people there and get all the information related to a community service issue. Some people think I can do any community service I want. I'll work over at my brother's store. I'll do something at church, but you have to get court-approved community service if you have a DUI case and try to meet your probation's terms and conditions.
Make sure you're doing an approved program. Make sure it's run through the court. Make sure your attorney agrees to it. Because if you don't get something approved by the court in the community service office, you will have to redo the whole thing.
Another thing people mess up on related to community service is that once you do the community service, you have to get your community service hours verified to satisfy your DUI sentence.
Community Service Office
You do that by running them back through the community service office in the courthouse. They'll put the stamp of approval on it, and then the judge will know you didn't just make the community service hours up – that the community service office verified that you did them.
You have to be careful because some people cheat and get fake community service hours. If you get caught doing this, you're violating your probation.
So, if you are sentenced to community service to satisfy your DUI charge, you're going to want to speak to your attorney about it because it is a sentence you want to get if you're going to try to avoid jail time related to your DUI matter.