ATLANTA — The state Senate gave final passage March 29 to legislation imposing mandatory minimum prison terms for gang recruitment.
Senate Bill 44 requires judges to impose prison sentences of at least five years on those convicted of recruiting gang members. It would also impose tougher penalties for those who recruit someone under age 17 or someone with a disability to a gang, requiring at least a 10-year sentence.
Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has made cracking down on gangs an important part of his legislative agenda this year.
“There’s no room for street gangs in Georgia. This bill is going to help prosecutors across the state. It’s going to help children,” said Sen. Bo Hatchett, R-Cornelia, one of the governor’s Senate floor leaders. “It’s going to really provide serious penalties for someone that tries to recruit a child into a life of crime by asking them to join a street gang.”
The Georgia House of Representatives amended the bill earlier this month to restrict judges’ abilities to allow people accused of certain crimes to be released without bond, called an “unsecured judicial release” in legal parlance.
The bill would prohibit judges from allowing people accused of certain crimes to go without bond if they have been convicted of bond jumping within the past five years or if a bench warrant for a failure to appear in court has been issued to the person within the past five years.
Judges would also be required to consider the accused’s criminal history before allowing release without bail.
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