Criminal vs. Civil Charges After a Car Accident
Criminal vs. Civil Charges After a Car Accident. Most accidents are handled through insurance and lawsuits — not handcuffs. Criminal charges punish you. Civil cases make you pay someone back. Here’s where it gets tricky: one crash can put you in two separate legal fights. Criminal court one day, civil court the next, completely different rules each time. So can you go to jail for a car accident? Depends on what happened. Honestly, messing up won’t put you behind bars, but driving drunk or…









