---
title: O.C.G.A. § 24-5-506. Privilege against self-incrimination; testimony of accused in criminal case.
collection: code
id: 24-5-506
cite_as: O.C.G.A. § 24-5-506 (2025)
canonical_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/24-5-506
md_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/24-5-506.md
text_url: https://georgiacommons.org/code/24-5-506/text
source_url: https://www.legis.ga.gov/api/document/docs/default-source/joint-features-document-library/t24-ch1-7-(v20)-2023-pdf.pdf?sfvrsn=27d520aa_0#page=395
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.
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version: the only printed version
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current_through: Including Acts of the 2025 Regular Session of the General Assembly
heading_path: EVIDENCE / PRIVILEGES
---

# O.C.G.A. § 24-5-506. Privilege against self-incrimination; testimony of accused in criminal case.

(a) No person who is charged in any criminal proceeding with the commission of any criminal offense shall be compellable to give evidence for or against himself or herself.

(b) If an accused in a criminal proceeding wishes to testify and announces in open court his or her intention to do so, the accused may so testify. If an accused testifies, he or she shall be sworn as any other witness and, except as provided in Code Sections 24-6-608 and 24-6-609, may be examined and cross-examined as any other witness. The failure of an accused to testify shall create no presumption against the accused, and no comment shall be made because of such failure.

## History

Code 1981, § 24-5-506, enacted by Ga. L. 2011, p. 99, § 2/HB 24.

## Cross References

Prohibition against compelled self-incrimination, Ga. Const. 1983, Art. I, Sec. I, Para. XVI.

Testimony by defendant in pretrial hearing, § 17-7-28.

## Law Reviews

For note, “Defendant as a Witness in a Criminal Proceeding,” see 3 Mercer L. Rev. 335 (1952).

For comment criticizing Lovett v. State, 108 Ga. App. 478, 133 S.E.2d 595 (1963), as to right of accused to assistance of counsel in making an unsworn statement, see 15 Mercer L. Rev. 512 (1964).

For article on the effect of a conviction that is based on a nolo contendere plea, see 13 Ga. L. Rev. 723 (1979).

For note on the Georgia right against self-incrimination, see 15 Ga. L. Rev. 1104 (1981).

For article, “Court Ordered Surgery to Retrieve Evidence in Georgia in Light of the Supreme Court Decision in Winston v. Lee,” see 37 Mercer L. Rev. 1005 (1986).

For annual survey on criminal law, see 71 Mercer L. Rev. 69 (2019).