PJC (Prayer for Judgment Continued) in a context of a speeding ticket.
Serge Semirog
A PJC is a procedural device where, after a defendant’s guilt is established by plea or trial, a judge decides not to impose a final judgment and sentence immediately upon the defendant.
With only a few exceptions, North Carolina law allows a trial judge to grant a Prayer for Judgment Continued to a defendant in any traffic case.
Basically, the North Carolina law lets you “pray" for the Court to “continue your judgement” or suspend making a ruling in your case. In other words, when you plea the Court for a PJC, you sort of promise the Judge to never do it again. In return for that sort of promise, the Court doesn’t convict you and instead postpones the judgment temporarily.
In North Carolina, you’re only allowed one (1) PJC every three years, per household.
If, within 3 years, you commit the same offense or something very similar, the Court may revoke the PJC and charge you with both offenses.
On the other hand, If you use a PJC and keep your driving record clean for three years, at the end the PJC evaporates and your charges with it!
That means that while you’re under the PJC any points (insurance or driver’s license points) don’t count against you.
Note that whether you use a PJC or not, you are still required to pay the court costs. If you use the PJC, you generally pay the court costs, but not the fine.
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