SB 592: "One Strike Act"; enact

Georgia law currently sets maximum sentences of around 20 years for aggravated assault, aggravated battery, and many kidnapping cases. This bill raises the minimum sentences for those crimes and removes the 20-year cap, allowing courts to impose sentences up to life without parole or life imprisonment. It also adds new provisions making rape, sexual battery, or aggravated sexual battery of a victim under 12 years old (by an adult 18 or older) punishable by life without parole or life in prison. The bill expands the list of 'serious violent felonies' under Georgia law to include sexual battery, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, first-degree home invasion, and firearm-related felonies. It creates a new Code section removing parole eligibility for people serving sentences for murder, assault, rape, or drug trafficking, and bars anyone convicted of a serious violent felony from early termination of probation or from reporting to probation through call-in centers. The changes would take effect July 1, 2026, and apply only to offenses committed on or after that date.

• Removes the 20-year maximum sentence for aggravated assault and aggravated battery, allowing courts to sentence offenders up to life without parole.
• Raises mandatory minimum sentences for aggravated assault or battery against public safety officers, people 65 or older, hospital and utility workers, and family members.
• Creates mandatory life without parole or life imprisonment for rape, sexual battery, or aggravated sexual battery when the victim was under 12 and the offender was 18 or older.
• Adds sexual battery, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, first-degree home invasion, and firearm-related felonies to the legal definition of 'serious violent felony.'
• Removes parole eligibility for people currently serving sentences for murder, certain assaults, rape, or drug trafficking, and bars parole for validated gang members.
• Prohibits early termination of probation and use of probation reporting call centers for anyone convicted of a serious violent felony.

People convicted of aggravated assault, aggravated battery, kidnapping, rape, sexual battery, or aggravated sexual battery in Georgia, especially offenses against children under 12, the elderly, public safety officers, and healthcare or utility workers. It also affects people currently on parole or probation for violent or drug trafficking offenses, and courts and the Department of Community Supervision.

Georgians convicted of certain violent or child sexual offenses would face much longer prison terms, including life without parole, instead of sentences capped around 20 years. Some current inmates would lose parole eligibility, and people on probation for serious violent felonies could no longer get early release or report by phone or kiosk.

• Section 3 rewrites O.C.G.A. § 16-5-21 (aggravated assault) to remove the 20-year cap on sentences, replacing fixed ranges with minimums that can extend to life without parole.
• Section 4 makes similar changes to O.C.G.A. § 16-5-24 (aggravated battery), raising minimum sentences and removing the maximum cap.
• Section 5 raises the kidnapping sentence for victims 14 or older from a maximum of 20 years to a range extending up to life without parole.
• Section 6 through 8 add new provisions to the rape, sexual battery, and aggravated sexual battery statutes mandating life without parole or life imprisonment when the victim was under 12 and the offender was 18 or older.
• Section 9 expands the definition of 'serious violent felony' in O.C.G.A. § 17-10-6.1 to include sexual battery, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, first-degree home invasion, and firearm-related felonies.
• Section 10 creates a new O.C.G.A. § 17-10-6.4 removing parole eligibility for certain offenders and banning early termination of probation or use of reporting call centers for serious violent felons.
• Section 11 sets the effective date as July 1, 2026, applying only to offenses committed on or after that date.

1. 2026-03-06Senate Tabled (Senado)
2. 2026-03-04Senate Read Second Time (Senado)
3. 2026-03-03Senate Committee Favorably Reported (Senado)
4. 2026-02-26Senate Read and Referred (Senado)
5. 2026-02-25Senate Hopper (Senado)

• Steve Gooch (R, SD-051)Patrocinador principal
• Jason Anavitarte (R, SD-031)
• Carden Summers (R, SD-013)
• Drew Echols (R, SD-049)
• Bo Hatchett (R, SD-050)
• Randy Robertson (R, SD-029)
• John Albers (R, SD-056)
• Russ Goodman (R, SD-008)
• Frank Ginn (R, SD-047)
• Timothy Bearden (R, SD-030)
• Clint Dixon (R, SD-045)
• Shawn Still (R, SD-048)
• Ricky Williams (R, SD-025)
• Lee Anderson (R, SD-024)
• Bill Cowsert (R, SD-046)

• criminal sentencing
• violent crime penalties
• child sexual abuse laws
• parole and probation
• aggravated assault law