Georgia

Recent / Pending Legislation

• SB 29 (2025/6, died) – would have required that arrestees charged with certain qualifying felonies (murder, armed robbery, rape, aggravated assault, burglary) to submit DNA at booking.
• SB 116 (2026, died) – would have imposed mandatory DNA collection provisions to anyone charged with a misdemeanor or subject to an ICE immigration detainer.

Arrestees: No law. Not Booking Station Rapid Ready.

Recent legislation: SB 29 (died on April 2, 2026). Arrestees charged with certain qualifying felonies (murder, armed robbery, rape, aggravated assault, burglary) must submit DNA at booking. But if an individual is arrested without a warrant, the bill stipulates that DNA sample cannot be taken until a formal probable cause determination has been made by a judge or grand jury.

Convicted Offenders: Yes.

Qualifying Crimes: Collection is limited to the felonies listed below; misdemeanor convictions do not qualify.

• 1. Someone who has been convicted of a felony and is currently incarcerated in a detention facility, serving a probation sentence, or serving under the jurisdiction of the State Board of Pardons and Paroles for such felony;
• 2. Someone who has been charged with a felony, and sentence for such offense has been imposed pursuant to Article 3 of Chapter 8 of Title 42 (First Offender probation) or pursuant to subsection (a) or (c) of Code Section 16-13-2 (conditional discharge for certain drug/property offenses); See HB 470 (2019)
• 3. Who has been convicted of a felony and is subject to an immigration detainer notice.

Time of Collection: Within the first 30 days of incarceration, at the receiving unit of the detention facility (or another place the Department of Corrections designates); or, in the 12 months preceding release, at the place the department designates.

Expungement: Occurs within 30 days after receipt of a certified copy of one of the following: (i) a court order reversing the conviction, together with an order or documentation showing the charges were dismissed; (ii) a judgment of acquittal; (iii) a sentencing order showing all felony charges were reduced to misdemeanors; or (iv) a court order showing successful completion of a first-offender sentence (O.C.G.A. Title 42, Ch. 8, Art. 3) or of a § 16-13-2 first-time drug offender conditional discharge. See O.C.G.A. § 35-3-165(a)(4).

Statutes / Case Law

• GA. ST. § 35-3-160. Samples required; storage in DNA data bank
• 35-3-161. Time and procedures for withdrawal of samples
• 35-3-165. Expungement of records
• Padgett v. Donald, 401 F.3d 1273 (11th Cir. 2005) (Georgia statute requiring extraction of saliva from incarcerated felons pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 24–4–60 (old version of § 35-3-160) for DNA profiling did not violate prisoners’ rights to privacy under the Georgia Constitution and Fourteenth Amendment).
• Padgett v. Ferrero, 294 F.Supp.2d 1338 (N.D. Ga. 2003) aff’d 401 F.3d 1273, cert. denied 126 S. Ct. 352, 546 U.S. 820 (Georgia statute requiring DNA sampling of all convicted felons was not invalid as an unreasonable search and seizure and does not violate felons’ privacy rights, the ex post facto clause or due process requirements).
• U.S. v. Hinton, 113 F. Supp. 3d 1277, 1283-85 (N.D. Ga., 2015) (because defendant was incarcerated and deemed a convicted felon during his incarceration, even as a first offender, Georgia’s DNA Act required prison officials to take defendant’s DNA’s sample, which does not violate the Fourth Amendment)
• U.S. v. Hinton, 676 Fed. Appx. 842, 2017 WL 191930 (2017) (Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s creation of defendant’s DNA profile following prior felony offense and retention in database after his incarceration ended, and the running of comparison to other DNA profiles after his release constituted reasonably searches under the Fourth Amendment).
• Quarterman v. State, 282 Ga. 383, 386, 651 S.E.2d 32, 35 (2007) (The privilege against self-incrimination in the United States Constitution does not protect an individual from government compulsion to provide blood or other biological samples)

Legislative History

• SB 594 (1992) — enacted as Ga. L. 1992, p. 2035, approved April 17, 1992. Created Georgia’s DNA data bank for the first time, adding Article 4 to Chapter 4 of Title 24 (former § 24-4-60 et seq.). Required a blood sample for DNA analysis from anyone convicted of specified sex offenses (rape, sodomy, statutory rape, child molestation, enticing a child, sexual assault against a person in custody, bestiality, necrophilia, incest). Established the DNA data bank at the GBI’s Division of Forensic Sciences, set confidentiality protections, authorized expungement on reversal of conviction, and criminalized unauthorized use of data bank information.
• SB 318 (2000) — enacted as Ga. L. 2000, p. 1071 (Act 738). First expansion beyond sex offenders: added any person convicted of a felony and incarcerated in a state prison on or after July 1, 2000, with retroactive coverage for felons already incarcerated for a pre-2000 conviction (collected before release) and for those in private correctional facilities under DOC contract. Also authorized oral swabs or other noninvasive samples as alternatives to blood, and made implementation contingent on appropriated funding. Upheld against Fourth Amendment and privacy challenges in Boulineau v. Donald, 401 F.3d 1273 (11th Cir. 2005).
• HB 95 (2005) — enacted as Ga. L. 2005, p. 60, § 24. Omnibus code-corrections act; § 24 amended § 24-4-60 to extend DNA collection to inmates in private correctional facilities operating under contract with the Department of Corrections, and to persons serving extended sentences (probation detention centers, boot camps). Technical and stylistic corrections made throughout the Code.
• HB 314 (2007) — enacted as Ga. L. 2007, p. 408, § 1, effective July 1, 2007. First expansion of collection beyond incarceration to certain felony probationers — limited to specific offense categories (crimes against persons, sex offenses, burglary, robbery, armed robbery, obstruction of an officer, dangerous instrumentalities, controlled substances). Upheld in Quarterman v. State, 282 Ga. 383 (2007).
• SB 80 (2011) — enacted as Ga. L. 2011, p. 264, § 3-1 (“Johnia Berry Act”). Repealed former § 24-4-60 and created the current OCGA Article 6A (§ 35-3-160 et seq.). Required DNA from all convicted felons — not just designated categories — and extended coverage to anyone incarcerated, on probation, or on parole, applied retroactively to pre-2011 felons still in those statuses. A pre-conviction collection provision based on post-arrest probable cause was stripped in House committee over Fourth Amendment concerns; only post-conviction collection survived into law.
• HB 470 (2019) — enacted as Ga. L. 2019, p. 299, § 1, effective April 28, 2019. Added a collection trigger for people charged with a felony but sentenced as first offenders (OCGA § 42-8-60 et seq.) or under certain drug first-offender provisions (§ 16-13-2(a)/(c)) — meaning DNA can be required even without a formal conviction. Expanded “detention facility” to include county correctional facilities and tightened the “identifying characteristics” language.

No program or law found. In addition, Georgia is not an arrestee state yet. So, booking station not possible.

Some use at Savannah State University for student teaching forensics students.

No program or law found.

No program or law found.

No program or law found. Legislation may come in 2027.