Georgia CommonsHouse · Introduced · 2025-2026 Regular Session
HB 673: Criminal procedure; limitations on bars to first offender treatment for certain minor offenders adjudicated as adults; provide
Last action March 3, 2025 · House Second Readers
A Georgia House bill would let judges give first offender treatment to some minors who were tried as adults for serious crimes, an option currently barred for those offenses, and would let eligible people apply retroactively.
The summaries below were written by an AI model (claude-sonnet-5) from the text of the bill and are not part of it. Quote the text, not the summary. The stored text is the Introduced version, the latest the General Assembly's website lists.
In plain language
Under current Georgia law, people convicted of certain serious crimes, such as serious violent felonies, sex offenses, and a list of other offenses, cannot receive first offender treatment (a sentencing option that avoids a permanent conviction record if probation terms are completed). This bill creates a narrow exception for defendants who were under age 17 and were adjudicated in superior court under O.C.G.A. § 15-11-560, the law that sends certain young people accused of the most serious offenses straight to adult court. For those defendants, judges could impose a term of confinement plus probation without entering a final adjudication of guilt. To later have the case discharged, the young person must have avoided violating probation (with limited exceptions), and if the offense was a sex offense, must have been classified as a Level I (lowest) risk by the Georgia Sexual Offender Risk Review Board. The bill also lets people who were sentenced as minors under this law petition retroactively for first offender status. The changes would apply within Georgia's existing first offender and mandatory minimum sentencing statutes.
What the bill does
- Creates an exception letting some minors adjudicated as adults for serious crimes receive first offender treatment, which was previously barred entirely for those offenses.
- Allows judges to sentence an eligible defendant under 17 to confinement plus probation without a final guilty adjudication, if the case was tried under Georgia's juvenile-to-adult transfer law (O.C.G.A. § 15-11-560).
- Requires the Department of Community Supervision to notify the court clerk when such a defendant completes or is released from the probation sentence, so the case can be considered for discharge.
- Conditions discharge on the defendant not violating probation terms and, for sex offenses, being rated the lowest risk level by the state's Sexual Offender Risk Review Board.
- Lets people previously sentenced as minors under this law petition the court, with prosecutor consent, for retroactive first offender status and exoneration.
- Amends the mandatory minimum sentencing statutes for serious violent felonies and sex offenses (O.C.G.A. §§ 17-10-6.1 and 17-10-6.2) to carve out this new exception.
Who it affects
People who were under age 17 and prosecuted as adults for serious crimes such as violent felonies or sex offenses, their defense attorneys and prosecutors, judges handling these cases, the Department of Community Supervision, and the Georgia Sexual Offender Risk Review Board.
Why it matters
Right now a minor tried as an adult for a serious crime is permanently barred from first offender treatment, meaning any conviction stays on their record even after completing probation. This bill would give some of those young defendants a path to have the case discharged without a lasting adult conviction, if they meet strict conditions.
Key provisions
- Section 1 and 2 amend O.C.G.A. §§ 17-10-6.1 and 17-10-6.2 so the general ban on first offender status for serious violent felonies and sex offenses no longer applies when the new juvenile exception in Section 3 applies.
- Section 3 adds subsection (a.1) to O.C.G.A. § 42-8-60, letting courts defer adjudication and impose confinement plus probation for defendants under 17 adjudicated under O.C.G.A. § 15-11-560.
- Section 3 also adds a notification duty requiring supervising agencies to alert the court clerk within 30 days of a qualifying defendant completing or being released from probation.
- Section 3 sets conditions for discharge: no probation violations (with a limited exception under O.C.G.A. § 42-8-34.1(c)), and Level I risk classification for sex offenses.
- Section 3 preserves the existing list of offenses (serious violent felonies, sexual offenses, trafficking, elder abuse, child exploitation crimes, certain assaults on law enforcement, and DUI) that otherwise bar first offender treatment, except under the new exception.
- Section 4 amends O.C.G.A. § 42-8-66 to let individuals sentenced as minors under this law petition, with prosecutor consent, for retroactive first offender exoneration and discharge.
From the bill
“When a defendant is under the age of 17 and is being adjudicated under Code Section 15-11-560, the court may, upon a guilty verdict or plea of guilty or nolo contendere and before an adjudication of guilt, without entering a judgment of guilt and with the consent of the defendant, defer further proceedings”
“If the defendant was convicted of a sexual offense as provided in Code Section 17-10-6.2, then such defendant shall have been classified as a Level I risk offender as determined by the Georgia Sexual Offender Risk Review Board”
Discussed in meetings (1)
The House and Senate meetings that took this bill up, from their machine transcripts. Each account was written by Georgia Commons with AI and is not part of the record; the video is what was said.
House Judiciary Juvenile Committee, February 9, 2026
From 0:25:40 · Watch on the General Assembly's Vimeo channel
Summary by Georgia Commons: The sponsor said the bill would let courts extend first-offender treatment to people who committed certain serious crimes at ages 13 through 16, allowing discharge and sealed records after successful sentences. The sponsor said confinement and probation would remain required and sentencing rules would not change. A formerly incarcerated witness who helped write the bill described employment barriers after serving 20 years for a crime committed at 13. Answering questions about eligibility, the witness said retroactive relief required completed supervision and prosecutor consent, with additional conditions for sex offenses. The sponsor said judicial discretion would remain. The West Georgia Judicial Circuit district attorney supported creating another option but questioned the bill’s offense coverage, sentencing language, treatment of probation violations, sealing provisions and effects on sex-offender registration. The Toombs Judicial Circuit district attorney raised firearm-access and public-safety concerns, noting the district attorneys’ association had not adopted a position. Both offered to help revise the bill. A Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers witness also offered to collaborate. An Atlanta Community Support Project witness supported relief, citing rehabilitation barriers and reports of low reoffending rates. A Southern Center for Human Rights witness requested removing prosecutor consent and said judges could revoke first-offender status for violations. No amendment was adopted. The chair designated the meeting a hearing only and requested a substitute for further discussion.
Status timeline
- House Second Readers (House)
- House First Readers (House)
- House Hopper (House)
Sponsors
- Marvin Lim (D, HD-98)
- Bill Werkheiser (R, HD-157)
Topics
- juvenile justice
- first offender sentencing
- criminal sentencing reform
- sex offender classification
- minors tried as adults