HB 673: Criminal procedure; limitations on bars to first offender treatment for certain minor offenders adjudicated as adults; provide

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.

• 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.

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.

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.

• 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.

1. 2025-03-03House Second Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
2. 2025-02-28House First Readers (Cámara de Representantes)
3. 2025-02-27House Hopper (Cámara de Representantes)

• Marvin Lim (D, HD-098)Patrocinador principal
• William Werkheiser (R, HD-157)

• juvenile justice
• first offender sentencing
• criminal sentencing reform
• sex offender classification
• minors tried as adults