Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s anti-gang law is on track to become the first tough anti-crime law passed by the Georgia legislature in 2023.
The one supported by Kemp Senate Act 44 was proposed Monday by a House Judiciary subcommittee by voting on the party line, and introduces a mandatory five-year sentence for gang offenses and extends the conviction for recruiting minors or people with disabilities to join street gangs for an additional five years. The bill will go before the full House Judiciary Committee, despite objections that introducing longer mandatory minimum sentences and limiting judges’ discretion would run counter to its intent to limit the power of gangs.
A person convicted of street gang offenses faces a minimum of five years in prison, plus other charges that could add to the time. The accused could be granted leniency if he helps convict other gang members.
According to critics of SB 44, Georgia already has some of the country’s toughest laws punishing violent and gang crimes, and minors are routinely transferred from juvenile court to adult court.
In Georgia, a child can be charged with some crimes as young as 13, said Christina Anderson, policy fellow at Emory University School of Law’s Barton Child Law and Policy Center.
Increasing penalties would not stop public gangs from recruiting children and youth, she said. The focus should be on strengthening community-based initiatives, where poverty and low levels of education make young people more likely to join gangs, she said.
“This bill would criminalize this 13-year-old without regard to why his child was in the gang in the first place,” Anderson said.
Senator Bo Hatchett, a Republican from Corneillia, said the legislation would give prosecutors and judges more tools infiltrate criminal organizations and prevent more young people from being exploited by violent groups.
“Governor Kemp has made fighting criminal street gangs a priority since he took office,” said Hatchett, who supports the measure. “By listening to local law enforcement and prosecutors, and with the help of the legislature, the governor is advocating one of the toughest anti-gang laws in the country.”
The bill also stipulates that a judge cannot release a person convicted of exceeding bail or failing to appear in court without posting cash or property as collateral. And a judge must consider the defendant’s criminal record when deciding whether to release a person on the basis of a signature bond.
Rep. Yasmin Neal, a Jonesboro Democrat, questioned whether the new law could trap minors. The former Clayton County police officer said she opposed the prison sentences required by law.
“Overcrowded prisons are already eating away at taxpayers’ money,” Neal said. “I would like the body to shift into a position where we’re trying to get people rehabilitated out of the system and into work.”
The bill states that a person charged with a street gang crime that doesn’t involve recruiting a minor may have their sentence reduced if they cooperate with prosecutors and don’t have a prior conviction that disqualifies them.
james woodall, public order workers for the Southern Center for Human Rights, said the bill was worded in such a way that people who would meet the conditions for a reduced sentence would be less liable and therefore at greater risk if they turned in older gang members.
“They will probably be young,” he said. “They’re probably lower down the organizational totem pole of the structure they’re in.”
Cara Convery, who heads Republican Attorney General Chris Carr’s gang investigation unit, said prosecutors must meet certain legal standards in order to convict an individual of involvement in gang activity.
Titus Nichols, a former prosecutor for the Augusta Judicial Circuit and an Atlanta attorney, said the bill not only removes a judge’s discretionary powers, but also gives a district attorney the power to appeal the judge’s decision, putting a teenager in a vulnerable position could bring.
“Sometimes it allows the prosecutor to push a weak case forward by saying, ‘Plead it or we’ll keep the improvement,'” he said.
