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GEORGIA'S LAW FOR TRYING AND SENTENCING JUVENILE AS ADULTS

"SENATE BILL 440" AT A GLANCE

• Senate Bill 440 (SB 440) was passed by the legislature in 1994.
  
  
• State Senator Robert Brown of the 26th district and LT. Gov. Mark Taylor sponsored the legislation, Sentencing Reform Act of 1994. It was introduced under the School Safety and Juvenile Justice Reform Act.
  
  
• SB 440 allows children (13-17 years old) to be prosecuted as an adult, if the child is accused of committing one of the offenses called "seven deadly sins" in Georgia.
  
  
• The "Seven Deadly Sins" are: murder, rape, armed robbery (with a firearm), aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery and voluntary manslaughter.
  
  
• WITHOUT SB440 a child 13 or older can be prosecuted as an adult in the State of Georgia, but the decision to do so is determined by the juvenile court.
  
  
• Children convicted under SB 440 often serve their time in adult prisons.
  
  
• SB 440 allows children to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
  
  
• Ninety percent (90%) of children sentenced under SB 440 &441 are African American.
  
  
• Children prosecuted under SB 440 are tried in superior court and not juvenile court, often waiting in jail a year or more to go to trial.
  
  
• Once convicted under SB 440, Senate Bill 441 is then applied to impose a mandatory minimum of 10 years-without the possibility of parole for all children prosecuted under this law.
  

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