Home › Arkansas DUI penalties breakdown
Arkansas DWI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line
Our Arkansas DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of Ark. Code §§ 5-65-104, 5-65-111 and 5-65-115 for a first, second and third conviction, the mandatory minimums, the restricted-license and interlock route, and the reinstatement charges the state actually publishes — with no added-up total.
The first offence, component by component
Arkansas calls the offence DWI and counts priors over a ten-year lookback for sentencing. A first DWI under §§ 5-65-111 and 5-65-112 is a misdemeanour carrying 24 hours to one year in jail and a fine of $150 to $1,000, and the published state summary adds a $300 court cost on top of the fine — a useful reminder that in Arkansas the court cost is a named, fixed component rather than part of the fine range itself. The license is suspended for six months, during which an ignition-interlock restricted license is available where there was no refusal, and the court-ordered package includes alcohol screening and assessment, any education or treatment that follows from it, and attendance at a victim impact panel. A judge may order community service in lieu of jail for at least part of a misdemeanour sentence, but only for good cause stated on the record.
The child-passenger rule changes the floor, not just the ceiling. If a passenger younger than 16 was in the vehicle, the first-offence mandatory minimum rises from 24 hours to seven days, the second-offence minimum rises to 30 days, and the third-offence minimum rises to 120 days. Those increases apply even though the fine ranges in the table do not change, which is why an Arkansas DWI with a young passenger is materially more expensive in time even where the dollar fine looks identical to a standard case. Arkansas also bars a judge from placing a person on probation before an adjudication of guilt for DWI, so the sequence — conviction first, supervision conditions afterwards — is fixed by statute rather than negotiated case by case.
Second and third offences, and what escalates
A second DWI within ten years carries seven days to one year and a fine of $400 to $3,000, with a 24-month suspension in the published state summary and an interlock restricted license available from the start of that period. A third within ten years carries 90 days to one year, a fine of $900 to $5,000 and a 30-month suspension, with the interlock route unavailable for the first 45 days. A fourth offence is a felony. Each tier repeats the screening, education or treatment and victim-panel requirements, so a repeat offender pays those programme components again rather than carrying credit forward from the first case — a stacking effect that matters more in Arkansas than in states where the programme is a first-offence-only requirement.
Refusal, the restricted license, and reinstatement charges
On the administrative side, the suspension begins on the timetable in the Department of Finance and Administration's offence summary, and a driver who wants to challenge it faces a short hearing window measured in days from arrest, not months. Reinstatement at the end of the period is a DFA transaction: state summaries cite a $150 reinstatement fee, and the driver must also show completion of the screening and programme requirements and satisfy any interlock condition attached to the restricted license. Our reinstatement and interlock pages cover those steps in detail. Where a driver refused testing, the interlock restricted route described for a first offence is not available on the same terms, which is why refusal in Arkansas costs driving flexibility even before the criminal fine is set.
| DUI component | Published amount |
|---|---|
| First offence (§§ 5-65-111, 5-65-112) | 24 hours to 1 year in jail; fine $150–$1,000; plus a $300 court cost in the published state summary; 6-month license suspension |
| First offence with a passenger under 16 | Mandatory minimum rises to 7 days in jail |
| Second offence in 10 years (§ 5-65-111) | 7 days to 1 year; fine $400–$3,000; 24-month license suspension in the published state summary |
| Third offence in 10 years (§ 5-65-111) | 90 days to 1 year; fine $900–$5,000; 30-month license suspension in the published state summary |
| Fourth offence | Felony tier — 1 to 6 years in the published summary; identified here by classification, with child-passenger minimums higher |
| Reinstatement (Dept. of Finance and Administration) | $150 reinstatement fee on the DFA schedule cited in state summaries; alcohol screening, education or treatment and a victim impact panel are completion conditions |
Sources: Ark. Code §§ 5-65-104, 5-65-111, 5-65-112 and 5-65-115; Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration DWI offence and reinstatement summaries; Arkansas Highway Safety Office impaired-driving guidance. Last verified: October 2026.
The fine is one line in a longer stack — court costs, program fees, interlock, supervision and reinstatement all bill separately. Price the layers that apply to your case in the calculator.
Open the DUI cost calculatorWhat this state does not publish as a single figure
Arkansas does not publish a single statewide price for the alcohol education or treatment a screening may require, for probation supervision, or for the interlock lease and calibration charged by the approved provider, and towing and storage after an arrest are set by the operator who took the vehicle. Those items are therefore listed as requirements on this page rather than priced as state charges, and court costs beyond the $300 cost named in the state summary can vary by court. There is no published Arkansas figure for the effect of a DWI on car insurance prices, and none is estimated here; the state's insurance-related requirement in these cases is the proof and interlock structure administered through DFA, not a premium set by the state.
There is no added-up statewide total on this page for the same reason: the published components above are the figures the statute, the licensing agency or the court schedule actually sets, and the remaining components are billed case by case. Adding them together would produce a number no Arkansas authority has published. Use the table to price the components that apply to a specific case, and use our first-offense cost guide, second-offense guide and third-offense guide for the national pattern each component follows.
Common questions
- What does a first Arkansas DWI cost in fines and court costs?
- A fine of $150 to $1,000 under § 5-65-111, plus a $300 court cost named in the published state summary — the two are separate components and should not be merged into one range.
- How long is the license suspension for a first Arkansas DWI?
- Six months, with an ignition-interlock restricted license available during the period where there was no refusal to submit to testing.
- What changes if a child under 16 was a passenger?
- The mandatory minimum jail term rises — to 7 days on a first offence, 30 days on a second and 120 days on a third — even though the fine ranges stay the same.
Related cost guides: Arkansas DUI costs overview, second-offense DUI costs, DUI refusal costs, ignition interlock costs, license reinstatement fees.
Sources: Ark. Code §§ 5-65-104, 5-65-111, 5-65-112 and 5-65-115; Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration DWI offence and reinstatement summaries; Arkansas Highway Safety Office impaired-driving guidance. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.