Georgia

Sets bail first

Jailer on the magistrate court's bail schedule, or a magistrate

Who that is

Judges and others

Release on a schedule

Jail or police can release on a schedule

Time to see a judge

48 hours

Money bail

Allowed (2024)

Risk assessment

None statewide

Prosecutor

District attorney, one per judicial district, elected

Public defense

Mixed

Jails run by

County sheriff

Who decides release first

The jail can release a person on a bail schedule that a court of inquiry, usually the county's magistrate court, adopted by written order, with no hearing. Otherwise a magistrate sets bail. Murder, rape, armed robbery, and other charges listed in O.C.G.A. 17-6-1(a) can be bailed only by a superior court judge, and a judge must set bail one case at a time in family violence cases.

O.C.G.A. 17-6-1Ga. S.B. 63 (2024), as passed

Time to see a judge

A person arrested without a warrant must be taken before a judicial officer within 48 hours or released. A person arrested on a warrant must see a judge within 72 hours.

O.C.G.A. 17-4-62

Money bail

Judges and bail schedules may set cash and surety bonds. A 2024 law, S.B. 63, bars release on one's own recognizance for a longer list of charges and bars any schedule or local policy from requiring release without money bail.

Ga. S.B. 63 (2024), as passed

Population covered

90%

of Georgia's people lived under an agency that reported to the FBI in 2025.

Agencies on NIBRS

77%

516 of 664 agencies send incident detail. The rest send summary counts or nothing.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, pulled 2026-09-26.

Program

Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Crime Information Center (GCIC), UCR Program

Incident reporting

GBI GCIC state NIBRS repository (FBI-certified June 11, 2018; full NIBRS reporting from October 2019); no distinct program name

Annual report

Crime Statistics Summary Report (Uniform Crime Reporting Program)Latest edition: 2024. Editions online 2009 to 2024.

Online portal

No state portal found.

What changed

Summary reports switched from SRS to NIBRS basis after the October 2019 transition. The old GBI Crime Statistics Database page now offers only two static PDFs (statewide rates and index crime profile).

Links and years checked 2026-09-26.

• GBI Crime StatisticsState · GA

  Georgia Bureau of Investigation · Incidents, Arrests · html, dashboard · annual

  GBI runs the Georgia UCR/NIBRS program.

• Georgia Judicial Council/AOC data and statistics dashboardsState · GA

  Judicial Council of Georgia, Administrative Office of the Courts · Courts · dashboard · annual

  Power BI by court and county; exported data only by request form.

Plus 83 national sources, from the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Census Bureau, the courts, and others.