Melanie’s Law and the Mass. DUI laws have enhanced penalties for those under 21 years of age. For example, if someone under 21 refuses to submit to a breath test, his or her license will be suspended for 3 years, for a 1st offense, instead of 180 days.

Also, the “admin per se” limit for those under 21 years of age is .02 instead of .08, the legal limit for adults in Massachusetts. This means that a driver who is under 21 will have his license administratively suspended anytime he or she registers at or above .02 on the breathalyzer.

G.L. c. 90 § 24P imposes a 180 day administrative license suspension for those who are under 21 who are arrested for operating under the influence and who either refuse to submit to a breath test or who take the breathalyzer and register at or above .02. This 180 day Youth Alcohol Program (YAP) suspension will be waived for those who are over 18 years of age upon enrollment into the G.L. c. 90 § 24D alcohol education program. Failure to successfully complete the first offender alcohol program will trigger a new 180 day suspension for those over 18 years of age and older and a 1 year suspension for those under 18 years of age.

While adult first offenders undergo DUI first offense suspensions of 45 to 90 days in length, Natick Mass first offenders who are under 21 years of age will have their licenses suspended for 210 days as part of a 24D disposition. Some lawyers overlook this important distinction between the standard 24D disposition and the enhanced penalties for those under 21 years old who are arrested for Natick MA underage DUI.