Arrested For Public Intoxication - What Next?

When you are arrested for something such as public intoxication, there are a number of things that you need to do in the process. One of the first things that you should do is understand what all the terms that you will hear actually mean.

Public intoxication is defined when a person has ingested a product whether its drugs or alcohol that is affecting their judgment. This also means that you aren't able to make rational decisions by yourself which is why the police will arrest you. When they arrest you, they will keep you in jail for at least 6 hours to ensure that the substance that you used is now completely out of your system. The police want to make sure that you are completely sober so that you won't get hurt when you leave jail. The reason that they arrest you in the first place is because they don't want you to cause harm to either yourself or others while you are intoxicated.

When they originally arrest you, you will be required to go through what is called a booking process. This is the time when they will take your mug shots and fingerprinting. From this point forward, you will be in the system because you were arrested. After a 6 hour period, they will have bail hearing to determine what your status will be. Depending on what type of past criminal history you have had will determine what your bail amount will be.

Once you have seen a judge and set your bail, you will then have to call someone to help you pull the money together. If you don't have enough money, you have the option to visit a bail bondsman in order to have them loan you the money. Remember that none of this process can happen until after the 6 hour wait. This is the very minimum that they will make you wait in a jail cell to sober up. There is always a chance that they will force you to wait longer because they feel that you are still not capable of making decisions for yourself.

After you have gotten out of jail, you will be assigned a court date that will be mandatory attendance. You will be required to stay in the city until your court date when they will hear your case. If this was your first PI then you will probably be required to do community service with no jail time requirement.