---
title: O.C.G.A. § 17-5-71. Preservation of evidence.
collection: code
id: 17-5-71
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 17-5-71 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-71
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-71.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/17-5-71/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t17-(v15)-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=6c4dfdf8_0#page=34
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/17-5.md
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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: CRIMINAL PROCEDURE / SEARCHES AND SEIZURES / INVESTIGATING SEXUAL ASSAULT
---

# O.C.G.A. § 17-5-71. Preservation of evidence.

(a) In cases in which the victim reports an alleged sexual assault to law enforcement, the investigating law enforcement agency shall maintain any physical evidence collected as a result of an alleged sexual assault that contains biological material, including, but not limited to, stains, fluids, or hair samples that relate to the identity of the perpetrator of an alleged sexual assault, for 30 years from the date of arrest, or seven years from completion of sentence, whichever occurs last, and if no arrests, then for 50 years.

(b) If the victim chooses not to report the alleged sexual assault to law enforcement at the time of evidence collection, the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction shall maintain any physical evidence collected as a result of such alleged sexual assault that contains biological material, including, but not limited to, stains, fluids, or hair samples that relate to the identity of the perpetrator of the alleged sexual assault, for not less than 12 months from the date any such physical evidence is collected.

## History

Code 1981, § 17-5-71, enacted by Ga. L. 2008, p. 486, § 3/HB 1297; Ga. L. 2019, p. 721, § 1/HB 282; Ga. L. 2021, p. 567, § 3/HB 255.

## Editor's Notes

Ga. L. 2021, p. 567, § 1/HB 255, not codified by the General Assembly, provides: “This Act shall be known and may be cited as the ‘Sexual Assault Reform Act of 2021.”’

## Amendments

The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, substituted “victim chooses not to report the alleged sexual assault to law enforcement at the time of evidence collection, the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction” for “victim does not cooperate with law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of an alleged sexual assault, the investigating law enforcement agency” near the beginning of subsection (b).