Pennsylvania DUI penalties by offense tier
Which tier your case falls into matters far more than anything about how the stop went. It turns on prior convictions, on how far back Pennsylvania counts them, and on whether anyone was hurt.
Last reviewed September 26, 2026
Penalty tiers at a glance
| Tier | Class | Jail | Fine | Interlock | Lookback |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Impairment (BAC 0.08 to 0.099), first offense 75 Pa.C.S. § 3804(a)(1) | Ungraded misdemeanor | None | $300 | ||
| High BAC (0.10 to 0.159), first offense 75 Pa.C.S. § 3804(b)(1) | Ungraded misdemeanor | At least 48 consecutive hours | $500 to $5,000 | ||
| Highest BAC (0.16+, refusal, or controlled substance), first offense 75 Pa.C.S. § 3804(c)(1) | Ungraded misdemeanor | At least 72 consecutive hours | $1,000 to $5,000 |
Jail and fine figures are the range the statute allows, not what a first appearance usually produces. Fines exclude court costs, assessments, interlock lease costs and reinstatement fees.
Each tier in detail
General Impairment (BAC 0.08 to 0.099), first offense
75 Pa.C.S. § 3804(a)(1)- Class
- Ungraded misdemeanor
- Jail
- None
- Fine
- $300
- License
- 0 days
Six months mandatory minimum PROBATION, not jail. This is the only PA tier with no jail minimum at all. Flat $300 fine. Alcohol highway safety school required, plus any treatment ordered under §§ 3814 and 3815. NO LICENSE SUSPENSION for a first offense at this tier: § 3804(e)(2)(iii) expressly excludes it where the person has no prior offense. That is genuinely unusual across states: most states suspend automatically. Note the tier ceiling of 0.099 is not written in § 3802(a) itself; it exists because § 3802(b) claims 0.10 and above.
TWO SUSPENSIONS CAN STACK. The criminal disposition and PennDOT's civil suspension are separate proceedings with separate consequences. Practitioner sources describe a refusal case resolved through ARD drawing a sixty-day suspension from the criminal side while the civil penalty adds twelve months on top, for fourteen months in total. A reader who resolves the criminal case may reasonably believe the license question is settled, and it is not.
High BAC (0.10 to 0.159), first offense
75 Pa.C.S. § 3804(b)(1)- Class
- Ungraded misdemeanor
- Jail
- At least 48 consecutive hours
- Fine
- $500 to $5,000
- License
- 365 days (1 year)
Statutory minimum is 48 CONSECUTIVE HOURS. Fine $500 to $5,000. Alcohol highway safety school plus §§ 3814/3815 treatment. Twelve-month suspension under § 3804(e)(2)(i). This subsection also catches a § 3802(a)(1) violation where there was an accident causing injury, death, or damage to a vehicle or property. So an impaired driver below 0.10 who crashes is sentenced here rather than at general impairment.
Highest BAC (0.16+, refusal, or controlled substance), first offense
75 Pa.C.S. § 3804(c)(1)- Class
- Ungraded misdemeanor
- Jail
- At least 72 consecutive hours
- Fine
- $1,000 to $5,000
- License
- 365 days (1 year)
Statutory minimum is 72 CONSECUTIVE HOURS. Fine $1,000 to $5,000. Twelve-month suspension. IMPORTANT: this tier is not only about BAC. § 3804(c) applies to a § 3802(a)(1) violation where the driver REFUSED breath testing under § 1547 or refused blood testing under a valid search warrant, and to any § 3802(d) controlled-substance violation. So refusal and drug-DUI are sentenced at the highest tier regardless of any BAC reading. That is a strong, underexplained content point.
Where this leaves you
A tier is not a sentence. Which one applies, and what actually happens inside its range, is what a defense lawyer argues about.