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House approves modernization of First Offender Act to seal records at sentencing
Summary
House Bill 162 passed the Georgia House 172–0 to require courts to seal First Offender records at sentencing and permit unsealing if the defendant fails to complete the court‑ordered program; sponsors said the change restores the act’s original intent to provide a meaningful second chance.
The Georgia House on Feb. 19 passed House Bill 162, a measure to modernize the First Offender Act by requiring records to be sealed at the time of sentencing and allowing a judge to unseal those records if an individual does not successfully complete the agreed sentence. The vote was 172–0.
Representative Lisa Hagen, the bill’s sponsor, told the chamber the First Offender Act was enacted in the 1960s to give people who made an isolated mistake a fresh…
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