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Massachusetts OUI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line

Our Massachusetts DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of MGL c. 90, § 24 for a first and second offence, the two mandatory assessments that cannot be waived, the § 24D first-offender alternative, the Registry suspensions for refusing or failing the breath test, and the RMV reinstatement fees — with no added-up total.

The conviction penalties: § 24 and the two assessments no judge can waive

A first OUI conviction under c. 90, § 24 carries a fine of $500 to $5,000, imprisonment in a house of correction for up to two and a half years, or both, and a one-year license revocation. On top of any fine, the statute imposes two assessments that the court has no power to reduce or waive: $250 to the Head Injury Treatment Services Trust Fund and $50 to the Victims of Drunk Driving Trust Fund — $300 that attaches to every conviction whatever fine the judge selects. In practice most first offenders without aggravating facts are placed on probation rather than imprisoned, but the statutory ceiling is the figure the page must print, and probation itself carries supervision conditions set by the court.

Most first offenders are instead sentenced under the § 24D alternative: an assignment to the Driver Alcohol Education Program, probation, and a license loss of 45 to 90 days rather than the full year, with eligibility for a hardship license. A § 24D disposition still counts as a first offence if the driver is charged again — Massachusetts counts priors over a lifetime, with a single narrow lookback exception for a lone prior more than ten years old. A second conviction raises the range sharply: a fine of $600 to $10,000, sixty days to two and a half years with a mandatory minimum structure that cannot be reduced below thirty days actually served, a two-year revocation, and a mandatory ignition interlock during any hardship period and after restoration.

Registry suspensions, hardship licenses and reinstatement fees

The Registry of Motor Vehicles acts on the test result before the court acts on the charge. Failing the breath test at 0.08 or higher brings a thirty-day administrative suspension; refusing brings 180 days on a first offence, three years on a second, five years on a third, and a lifetime suspension on a fourth or later refusal. Those Registry periods are separate from the court-ordered revocation and can run alongside it. A hardship license — limited hours for work or education — may be considered after three months of a first-offence revocation, and after six months for general purposes, and any hardship license following a high test result or a repeat offence carries the interlock.

Reinstatement is priced by c. 90, § 33 and the RMV fee schedule: $500 after a first OUI, $700 after a second, and $1,200 after a third or subsequent offence, with a separate reinstatement fee where a refusal suspension also has to be cleared. Massachusetts does not use the SR-22 filing most states require — there is no state filing fee to print — and drivers who cannot obtain ordinary cover are placed through the Massachusetts Automobile Insurance Plan. Our reinstatement page, interlock page and hardship license page cover those components in detail; our refusal page puts the 180-day first-refusal suspension in national context.

Sources: Massachusetts General Laws c. 90, §§ 24, 24D, 33; Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles suspension and reinstatement schedules. Last verified: October 2026.

What this state does not publish as a single figure

Massachusetts court costs and probation supervision charges are assessed in the case and differ by court, and the alcohol education and treatment programmes are billed by the assigned provider — the § 24D programme charge is set by the programme, not printed in § 24 — which is why this page prints the statutory fine ranges, the two fixed assessments and the RMV reinstatement fees, and describes programme and supervision charges as requirements instead of pricing them as state charges. The interlock is leased from an RMV-approved vendor at the vendor's rates.

There is no published Massachusetts figure for the effect of an OUI on the price of insuring a car, and none is estimated here; Massachusetts does not use SR-22 filings, and placement through the assigned-risk plan is priced by the insurer, not the Commonwealth. Later offences carry multi-year revocations and felony exposure at the fifth offence, and are deliberately not blended into the figures above.

Common questions

Which Massachusetts charges apply even if the judge sets the lowest fine?

The two § 24 assessments: $250 to the Head Injury Treatment Services Trust Fund and $50 to the Victims of Drunk Driving Trust Fund. The statute does not allow either to be waived or reduced.

Is the § 24D programme a way to avoid a conviction record entirely?

A completed § 24D disposition is a continuance without a finding rather than a conviction, but it counts as a first offence for every later OUI charge — the practical consequence that matters if there is ever a second arrest.

What does the RMV charge to reinstate after an OUI?

$500 after a first offence, $700 after a second and $1,200 after a third or subsequent offence under the § 33 fee schedule, with a further fee where a refusal suspension must also be cleared.

Sources: Massachusetts General Laws c. 90, §§ 24, 24D, 33; Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles suspension and reinstatement schedules. 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.