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Committee hears DHS bill to clarify juvenile judges' authority to issue arrest warrants
Summary
Senate Bill 8, sponsored as a Department of Human Services bill, would align juvenile-court arrest-warrant authority in Title 15 with criminal-procedure provisions in Title 17; committee members and a juvenile court judge discussed practical effects and safeguards but took no formal vote.
A departmental bill to clarify juvenile court judges' ability to issue arrest warrants drew focused questions but no formal vote at the Senate Children and Families Committee's first meeting. The bill, Senate Bill 8, was presented to the committee as an effort to align the juvenile code (Title 15 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated) with the criminal procedure code (Title 17).
The presenting senator described SB 8 as "a department bill coming from DHS," saying the measure is meant "to clean up an inconsistency between Title 17, the criminal code, and Title 15, which includes the juvenile code relating to arrest warrants." The bill would explicitly recognize juvenile court judges in the statutory cross-references used for issuing arrest warrants and preserve the role of prosecuting attorneys in charging decisions.
The bil…
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