---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-2-20. When a person is a party to a crime.
collection: code
id: 16-2-20
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-2-20 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-2-20
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-2-20.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-2-20/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch1-6-(v14)-2019-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=af47a366_0#page=168
date: 2025
status: active
corpus_version: 2025-supplement-89aa39ab3c68
license: CC0-1.0
publisher: Georgia Commons, an independent project of Georgia Civic Data. Not the State of Georgia. Not legal advice.
up: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-2.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-2-6.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-2-21.md
index: https://georgiacommons.org/code/index.md
version: the only printed version
in_force: true
current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: CRIMES AND OFFENSES / CRIMINAL LIABILITY / PARTIES TO CRIMES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-2-20. When a person is a party to a crime.

(a) Every person concerned in the commission of a crime is a party thereto and may be charged with and convicted of commission of the crime.

(b) A person is concerned in the commission of a crime only if he:

(1) Directly commits the crime;

(2) Intentionally causes some other person to commit the crime under such circumstances that the other person is not guilty of any crime either in fact or because of legal incapacity;

(3) Intentionally aids or abets in the commission of the crime; or

(4) Intentionally advises, encourages, hires, counsels, or procures another to commit the crime.

## History

Code 1933, § 26-801, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1.

## Law Reviews

For article, ‘‘State v. Jackson and the Explosion of Liability for Felony Murder,’’ see 62 Mercer L. Rev. 1335 (2011). For article, ‘‘Individual Accountability for Corporate Crime,’’ see 34 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 335 (2018).

For note discussing organized crime in Georgia with respect to the application of state gambling laws, and suggesting proposals for combatting organized crime, see 7 Ga. St. B. J. 124 (1970). For note discussing the felony murder rule, and proposing legislation to place limitations on Georgia’s felony murder statute, see 9 Ga. St. B. J. 462 (1973).