Can’t I get a PJC — Prayer for Judgment Continued — for my traffic ticket, and isn’t that just as good as a dismissal?

A prayer for judgment continued, or what is often referred to as a PJC, means that although a person pleads or is found guilty, the court does not enter the conviction. When used appropriately, this can spare a defendant from paying fines and from receiving driver’s license points and insurance points.

However, the law surrounding PJCs is complicated and frequently misunderstood. Sometimes we have clients who think they would benefit from a PJC when, once we look at their driving record, we realize that it would actually hurt them.

The first thing you need to know is that PJCs are of limited use. You are allowed two PJCs within five years for avoiding points on a standard class C driver’s license. If you have a commercial driver’s license, or CDL, a PJC on a speeding case provides no benefit.

A driver is allowed only one PJC every three years per insurance policy for the purposes of keeping tickets from affecting car insurance rates. We have had clients who expected a PJC to keep their insurance rates from going up only to find out that someone else on their insurance policy had already used one within the previous three years.

A good traffic ticket lawyer will check your record and know when it will help to ask for a PJC and when it won’t. Before we resort to using a prayer for judgment, we always look to see whether there are other options available. Since the PJC option is limited, you need to protect them like any other precious resource.