Submitted by New Jersey DWI Lawyer, Jeffrey Hark.
If you are caught driving while your license is suspended for a second or subsequent DWI you will go to jail. There is no way around this whether through the Drug Court program. This requirement speaks to the public policy of protecting the public from drunk drivers. But driving on a suspended license after a second or subsequent reveals not only that the defendant may be a DWI risk but will also does not respect non-custodial punishments. Suspension of a license is not a custodial punishment the way jail or even probation may be.
Driving with Suspended License is a 4th Degree Crime
As such N.J.S.A. 2C:40-26(b) makes driving while under this suspension a fourth degree crime. This requires 180 days in jail without exception. This was held in 2014 in State v. French, reaffirmed in 2015 in State v. Harris, and again last week in State v. Borges.