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Will a Juvenile Drug or Alcohol Case Cost Your Teen Their Driver’s License in California?
A juvenile drug or alcohol case can cost a teenager the right to drive for a year in California, and no car has to be involved for that to happen. It is the consequence families are least often warned about, because everything else in juvenile court is described as separate from adult criminal court.
At The Law Office of Katie Walsh, our Orange County juvenile defense lawyer treats the license as part of the case from the first meeting rather than as an afterthought.
Can a Juvenile Drug or Alcohol Case Really Suspend a Teen’s License?
Yes, a juvenile drug or alcohol case can suspend a California teenager’s driving privileges, and the court orders it rather than anything on the road. Vehicle Code Section 13202.5 directs the court to suspend driving privileges for one year for each qualifying offense committed by someone who was 13 or older and under 21 at the time.
Juvenile findings count. The statute states that conviction, as used in that section, includes findings in juvenile proceedings, which is why a case resolved in juvenile court can still reach the driving privilege.
If your child has no license yet, the year is served as a delay in eligibility rather than a suspension. A fourteen year old can lose a year long before ever applying, and additional findings can add further years.
The Offenses That Trigger a Suspension
The offenses that trigger a suspension are violations involving controlled substances or alcohol, drawn from four California codes rather than the Vehicle Code alone:
- Business and Professions Code, including the sections behind teen alcohol violations
- Health and Safety Code, Division 10, where California’s controlled substance offenses live
- Penal Code, including specified vehicular and public intoxication provisions
- Vehicle Code, covering underage DUI and reckless driving charged with the alcohol enhancement
That range is the reason a drug possession case with no vehicle anywhere in the facts can still reach the license.
Is There Any Way for My Teen to Keep Driving?
There is a way for a teenager to keep driving during the suspension period, and it is called a critical need to drive restriction. On petition, the court may review the order and impose restrictions based on a showing of critical need to drive, evaluated using the circumstances that support a junior permit under Vehicle Code Section 12513, such as family illness or no reasonable transportation to school or work. If a restriction is granted, it runs for the balance of the period.
Whether to grant it is the court’s decision. What a family controls is presenting the request properly and with supporting evidence, and raising the license issue early.
How an Orange County Juvenile Defense Lawyer Approaches the License Issue
Our Orange County juvenile defense lawyer handles the license consequence by raising it at the start of a case rather than at the end. We check whether the charged section is one that reaches driving privileges, weigh that when we consider diversion or another resolution in your teen’s juvenile case, and prepare the critical need petition with the documentation a court expects.
If your teen is facing a drug or alcohol allegation and the license is on your mind, call us at (714) 351-0178 for a free consultation, or send us the details online.
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