---
title: O.C.G.A. § 16-7-23. Criminal damage to property in the second degree.
collection: code
id: 16-7-23
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 16-7-23 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-7-23
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-7-23.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-7-23/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t16-ch7-11-(v14a)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=f5e4f5fa_0#page=17
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/16-7.md
previous: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-7-22.md
next: https://georgiacommons.org/code/16-7-24.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 / DAMAGE TO AND INTRUSION UPON PROPERTY / CRIMINAL TRESPASS AND DAMAGE TO PROPERTY / GENERAL PROVISIONS
---

# O.C.G.A. § 16-7-23. Criminal damage to property in the second degree.

(a) A person commits the offense of criminal damage to property in the second degree when he or she:

(1) Intentionally damages any property of another person without his or her consent and the damage thereto exceeds $500.00; or

(2) Recklessly or intentionally, by means of fire, explosive, or fireworks, damages property of another person.

(b) A person convicted of the offense of criminal damage to property in the second degree shall be punished by imprisonment for not less than one nor more than five years.

## History

Code 1933, § 26-1502, enacted by Ga. L. 1968, p. 1249, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 484, § 2; Ga. L. 1985, p. 1491, § 2; Ga. L. 2008, p. 444, § 2/SB 400; Ga. L. 2024, p. 945, § 2/SB 417, effective July 1, 2024; Ga. L. 2025, p. 1029, § 16(8)/SB 153, effective July 1, 2025.

## Amendments

The 2024 amendment, effective July 1, 2024, inserted “or she” at the end of subsection (a), inserted “or her” in the middle of paragraph (a)(1), and substituted “fire, explosive, or fireworks” for “fire or explosive,” in paragraph (a)(2).

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, part of an Act to revise, modernize, and correct the Code, inserted a comma following “fireworks” in paragraph (a)(2).