Georgia General Assembly · Full text

HB 1405: Courts; cognitive behavioral therapy for certain children in restrictive custody with the Department of Juvenile Justice; provide

Introduced version, the latest LegiScan holds · Last action February 25, 2026 · Introduced

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House Bill 1405

By: Representatives Hong of the 103rd, Rice of the 139th, Ballard of the 147th, Crowe of the 118th, and Holcomb of the 101st

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED

AN ACT

To amend Article 6 of Chapter 11 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to delinquency, so as to provide for cognitive behavioral therapy for certain children in restrictive custody with the Department of Juvenile Justice; to provide for criteria and evaluation for participation; to require DJJ to provide such services; to provide for a minimum number of hours of provided therapy for such children; to require DJJ to annually produce a report on the provision of such services; to provide for contents and recipients of such report; to provide for related matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other purposes.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:

SECTION 1.

Article 6 of Chapter 11 of Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating to delinquency, is amended in Code Section 15-11-602, relating to disposition of class A or class B designated felony acts, by adding a new subsection to read as follows: "(i)(1) DJJ shall evaluate any child adjudicated for a class A designated felony act or class B designated felony act and placed in restrictive custody to determine whether such child exhibits behavior that indicates the child could benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy. For any such child, DJJ shall provide and such child shall attend cognitive behavioral therapy until he or she completes at least 200 hours of such therapy or until he or she is released from restrictive custody, whichever event occurs first.

(2) DJJ shall, on or before July 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, produce a report stating the number of children who received cognitive behavioral therapy pursuant to this subsection as well as the three-year recidivism rate for those children. Such report shall contain only anonymized data. Such report shall be provided to the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the director of the Criminal Justice Coordinating Council."

SECTION 2.

All laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.