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Pink tickets are the stuff of nightmares. They come with penalties and consequences far above and beyond standard traffic or parking tickets. They’re harder to fight. And, if you misplace or can’t find your ticket, you have to use a pink ticket search or lookup tool to find it. Fail to do so and you just might get charged with yet another crime.

What Is a Pink Ticket?

A pink ticket is a criminal summons. These are summonses issued by law enforcement officers to people who have broken a qualifying law. A pink ticket includes information about your case and the allegations against you. On the summons is where you’ll find your court date, the court’s address, and more information pertaining to your recent charges.

Depending on what law you’ve broken, it’s possible that you can receive a pink ticket instead of being arrested. That means you won’t have to worry about developing an arrest record, which can save you some embarrassment later down the line. If you remain civil and respectful and do what the officer asks, then you might be able to avoid jail altogether.

What Crimes Can Get Pink Tickets?

Unfortunately, pink tickets aren’t available for all crimes. For serious, violent crimes, you will not have the opportunity to get let off with a pink ticket. Instead, you’ll be taken directly to jail, where you will stay until your arraignment (at the very least). Here’s a list of all of the crimes for which you can potentially receive a pink ticket:

• Drinking Alcohol in Public.
• Being in a Park After Dark.
• Riding a Bicycle on the Sidewalk.
• Various Trespass Offenses.
• Disorderly Conduct.
• Unlawful Possession of Marijuana.
• Reckless Driving.
• Various Trucking Offenses.
• Urinating in Public.
• Possession of a Knife Longer than Four inches.
• Selling Tickets Too Close to a Stadium (even for face value).
• Unlawful Eviction.

All of the above crimes are just that: crimes. When you commit a crime, police officers are permitted to arrest you. However, for the crimes mentioned in the above list, police officers can give you a pink ticket in lieu or an arrest. What comes next depends on the nature of the crime.

What To Do if You Get a Pink Summons?

First things first, get a lawyer. You’ll want a good criminal defense attorney to represent you in court if you expect to beat the charges against you. That being said, you are not required to get a lawyer. You can, instead, represent yourself (more on that later.)

After you’ve decided whether or not you want to get a lawyer, you’ll need to begin preparing for your court date. Start by reading your summons to make sure that it contains all of the necessary information and that you can read it. If not, then you’ll need to look up your summons online to make sure that you have the correct information.

Not being able to read your summons (or losing it) is not an excuse for missing your court date.

Pros and Cons of Your Options

There are three common options that you can choose from when it comes to fighting criminal charges: You can appear in court without a lawyer, you can appear in court with a lawyer, or you can hire a lawyer to go to court without you. That last option is not available in every case but can save you a great deal of time and effort.

Each of these methods have its own advantages and disadvantages. We’ll go into greater detail on each of them in the sections that follow, with the hope of providing you with enough information to make an educated decision. Which option is best for you? Find out below.

Appear Yourself Without a Lawyer

First up, you have the option to go to court alone without a lawyer. If this is the route you take, you’ll need to be ready for what comes your way. You’ll need to prepare to argue your case against expert prosecutors and attorneys with years (maybe even decades) of experience putting people just like behind bars for crimes just like this.

Sure, that sounds intimidating (as it should), but it’s not all doom and gloom. Some people actually do win their criminal court cases when they defend themselves without help from skilled lawyers. Admittedly, however, the odds are not in your favor if you do not know what you are doing.

The main advantage of this option is that it is significantly cheaper than hiring a lawyer. Of course, that cost advantage only applies if you beat your case, which is unlikely in this scenario. If you lose your case and the court convicts you of the crime, then the charges will likely be far, far more expensive than if you had hired a lawyer and won.

Appear Yourself With a Lawyer

The second option is to go to court and bring a lawyer with you. This path is much safer than if you were to go without legal assistance. Think of it like this: if you’re injured, would you rather hire a doctor to heal you or tend your wounds yourself with whatever loose strings and needles you have in your kitchen cabinet?

Appearing in a court alongside a lawyer is often the most efficient way to achieve the best possible result in your case. Your attorney, with their years of experience, might identify a discrepancy in the prosecution’s case against you or maybe even get you off on a technicality.

For example, would you know the legal precedent to back up a claim stating that your Fourth Amendment rights were violated when the officer found the evidence against you? Your attorney would.

Of course, you might have guessed the downside to this: It is the most expensive option. Depending on the nature of the crime and how much work the lawyer needs to put into your case, you could end up spending a massive amount of money. On the other hand, for many crimes, attorneys fees pale in comparison to the fines and fees of losing your case. So you might as well go for it.

Hire a Lawyer To Appear in Court for You Without Going Yourself

The third option is the preferred option for quite a few people all over the country. In some states for some crimes, you can hire an attorney to go to court on your behalf without you accompanying them. This enables you to obtain many of the same benefits as if you were to go with the attorney to court but without the hassle of actually having to go to court.

The main advantage of this option is the fact that you don’t have to attend your hearing (where applicable). Instead, you can go to work, stay home, avoid having to travel long distances to court, etc. If you live a considerable distance away from the county where court will be taking place, this method can save you hundreds of dollars on airfare and hotel rooms.

The most notable disadvantage of this option is that it can sometimes cost just as much as if you had gone to court with your attorney. Depending on your specific circumstances, there might be very little difference between the financial cost of this option and that of option two.

Ignore the Summons (NOT RECOMMENDED)

A secret fourth option is to just ignore the summons. After all, if you pretend it doesn’t exist or that you never received it, you won’t have to go to court, right? Wrong! Do not do this under any circumstance. Ignore your summons and you could be charged with one or more possible crimes, such as Failure to Respond and Failure to Appear. Here’s a comprehensive list of reasons why you should not ignore a pink ticket criminal summons:

• It is illegal.
• It is a crime.
• It is against the law.

Failure to appear in court for a crime that involves a mandatory appearance date will almost certainly result in a warrant being issued for your immediate arrest. Depending on law enforcement availability in your area, police might be dispatched to your home address to execute that warrant on the spot.

We repeat, do not ignore a criminal summons for any reason. It will not turn out well.

How To Find a Lost Pink Ticket?

If you’ve lost your pink ticket, can’t read what’s written on it, or it’s been damaged, you’ll need to find the information on it somewhere else. Oftentimes, that means going down to the clerk of court’s office in the courthouse listed on the ticket. If you don’t know which courthouse that is, it’s probably the one in the county where the crime occurred. If you don’t know that information, you’ll have to use a lookup tool.

Unfortunately, government organizations (like courthouses) are often some of the last organizations to upgrade to modern technology. Many courthouses still do not offer online lookup tools that enable you to search for and locate court materials.

When in doubt, contact a lawyer through www.appwinit.com or the WinIt app for help finding the answers to your legal questions.