If you are under 21 and charged with OUI/DUI in Massachusetts, you face enhanced penalties for your OUI/DUI charge and enhanced penalties for either refusing the breathalyzer or taking the breathalyzer and failing.

A motorist under 21 faces a minimum license suspension of 210 days by pleading guilty or if found guilty after trial on the underlying OUI/DUI charge. You are also facing additional administrative suspensions.

Enhanced penalties for under 21 breathalyzer refusals: If you are under 21 and refuse a breathalyzer, the Registry of Motor Vehicles will suspend your license for three years. Note you only have 15 days from the date of the arrest to request a hearing on a breathalyzer refusal. You must appear at the Boston Registry of Motor Vehicles to request that hearing.

Under 21 with breathalyzer reading over .20: If your are under 21 and register over a .20 on the breathalyzer, any sentence imposed by the court will have the additional condition of completing the second offender 14-day inpatient program.

Enhanced penalties for breathalyzer failures for motorist under 21: A breathalyzer failure for a motorist under 21 is any breathalyzer reading above .02.

Enhanced penalties for breathalyzer failures for motorists under 18: Any driver under 18 is subject to a one year suspension for a breathalyzer failure. This suspension can be reduced to 180 upon entry into an alcohol treatment program approved by the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Enhanced penalties for motorists 18-21: Any driver over 18 and under 21 faces a 180 day suspension for any breathalyzer reading above .02. For a motorist over 18 and under 21, this 180 suspension can be waived upon entry into an alcohol treatment program.

If you take the breathalyzer and fail, you should contact attorney DelSignore immediately as you only have 10 days from the date of your arrest to request a hearing on the issue of whether you failed the breathalyzer.