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Downtown Riverside's Hall of Justice at 4100 Main Street is the county's largest criminal courthouse, with roughly two dozen courtrooms handling matters from across the Riverside metro area. It sits in the civic center a short distance from the separate Historic Courthouse building, which confuses more than a few people on their first trip downtown. If your DUI arrest happened in Riverside, Jurupa Valley, Norco, Eastvale, or Perris, this is most likely your courthouse. Below is what the building is like to get into and move through, how the clerk's office runs arraignment week, and the two separate deadlines, criminal court and DMV, that start running the moment you were arrested.
Riverside Hall of Justice — court & DMV details
Why your case is here
The Hall of Justice at 4100 Main Street is the criminal hub for the Riverside metro region — the county's largest criminal courthouse, sitting in the downtown civic core directly across Main Street from the separate Historic Courthouse at 4050 Main (a common mix-up). DUIs from Riverside, Jurupa Valley, Norco, Eastvale, and Perris are generally heard here, and CHP arrests on the I-215, SR-91, and SR-60 interchanges nearby funnel in. Moreno Valley and Corona also have their own local courthouses, but both are limited to civil, small-claims, and traffic matters — DUI cases arrested in those cities are heard here at the Hall of Justice as well, not locally.
Finding parking and getting through security downtown
Street parking near the Hall of Justice runs on meters at 25 cents per 10 minutes with a 4-hour limit, and three parking structures sit within a short walk of the building for longer visits. Drivers using the Park Riverside app can get 30 to 60 minutes of free parking, often enough for a quick calendar call but not a full arraignment morning. Handicapped spaces are available with a valid placard or plate. Inside, every visitor clears a metal detector; the screening area is built for an average-size wheelchair, and anyone with a pacemaker or cochlear implant can request hand-wand screening instead. The building's accessible entrances are on Eleventh and Twelfth Streets, with four public elevators and assistive listening devices available once inside. Several Riverside Transit Agency bus lines converge in the downtown core near Main Street, and the city's Metrolink station sits within the same downtown blocks for anyone arriving by train.
Arraignment week at the Hall of Justice
The Hall of Justice keeps clerk's office hours of 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on weekdays, with phone coverage ending at 2:00 p.m. Criminal matters are heard across floors two through six, in departments numbered from 21 to 65, so confirm your department number from your citation or arraignment notice before you start looking for a courtroom. As with other Riverside County criminal courthouses, arraignments here are conducted in person rather than by remote video, which the court reserves mainly for non-evidentiary civil, family law, probate, and small claims matters. Because this is the busiest criminal courthouse in the county, calendars can run long, so plan to arrive with time to clear security and locate your department well before your listed time.
Your license, the DMV, and Riverside County's DUI program
The DMV case against your license runs on its own 10-day clock from the date of arrest, separate from whatever happens at the Hall of Justice, and Inland Empire drivers request that hearing by phone rather than walking into a local Driver Safety counter. If the court orders a DUI program as part of your case, Riverside County Probation's approved list is countywide, covering the AB541 first offender course, the longer nine-month AB1353 option, and the SB38 eighteen-month program for a repeat offense, with a shorter SB1176 session available for some reduced charges such as a wet reckless. Anyone ordered into electronic monitoring is told to contact Sentinel Offender Services or Leaders in Community Alternatives within five days of the court date to schedule setup.
The 10-day DMV deadline
Your Hall of Justice court case is separate from the DMV's case against your license, and the DMV gives you only 10 days from arrest to request a hearing. Because there's no Driver Safety Office inside Riverside County, act quickly. How the DMV hearing works →
How Ron defends a DUI at the Hall of Justice
DUI cases at the Hall of Justice are prosecuted by the Riverside County District Attorney's main office, which carries a heavy DUI caseload given how much traffic funnels through the I-215, SR-91, and SR-60 interchanges nearby. After arraignment, most misdemeanor cases move through pretrial conferences where Ron reviews the arresting agency's reports, any dashcam or body camera video, and the breath or blood testing records, before deciding whether to push for a negotiated resolution or set the matter for trial. Because Riverside County Superior Court runs criminal calendars, including DUI arraignments, as in-person hearings rather than by video, plan on appearing downtown in person for the dates that require your presence, even though an attorney can often stand in for routine calendar dates on a first-time misdemeanor charge. Ron handles Riverside metro DUIs from his Irvine office, working directly with each client by phone and email between court dates so a drive downtown is reserved for the hearings that actually need it, not every routine check-in.
Where will my Riverside DUI be heard?
Is the Hall of Justice the same as the Historic Courthouse?
Do I have to appear in Riverside myself?
How do I keep my license?
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Ron defends DUI cases across Southern California from his Irvine office — and works directly with you, not a call center.
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