How Georgia handles a case
What happens after an arrest anywhere in Georgia: who decides release first, how fast a person sees a judge, which courts hear the case, and who runs the offices around them. Every county in the state works under these rules.
From arrest to court
- 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- Pretrial risk assessment
No law requires a pretrial risk tool statewide. Some counties run their own pretrial release programs.
Mapping Pretrial Risk, State Laws on RATs- Courts
Superior courts, organized in 50 judicial circuits of one or more counties, try every felony. In counties that have one, the state court hears misdemeanors and traffic cases; elsewhere the probate court or superior court does. Magistrate courts in every county issue warrants, hold preliminary hearings, and set bail, and city municipal courts hear traffic and ordinance cases.
Judicial Council of Georgia, Navigating the CourtsJudicial Council of Georgia, Your Guide to Georgia's Courts (2022)- Judges and magistrates
Voters elect superior court judges circuit-wide and state court judges countywide, in nonpartisan elections for four-year terms; both must be lawyers. Most counties elect a chief magistrate, who may appoint other magistrates. State law asks magistrates for only a high school diploma, though local laws in some counties require lawyers. Probate judges must be lawyers only in counties over 90,000 people.
Judicial Council of Georgia, Your Guide to Georgia's Courts (2022)O.C.G.A. 15-10-22- Prosecutors
Voters in each judicial circuit elect a district attorney for a four-year term, who prosecutes felonies in superior court. In counties with a state court, an elected solicitor-general prosecutes misdemeanors there.
Ga. Const. art. VI, sec. VIII, para. I- Public defense
A circuit public defender office, under the state Georgia Public Defender Council, represents people in superior and juvenile court in most judicial circuits. A few single-county circuits, such as Gwinnett and Douglas, opted out and run their own systems, and cities and counties choose how to staff misdemeanor and ordinance cases.
O.C.G.A. 17-12-23Georgia Public Defender Council, Gwinnett Judicial Circuit (opt-out)- Jails
The sheriff of each county is the county's jailer.
O.C.G.A. 42-4-1
Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Some of this is medium confidence and still being checked. Statute text came from FindLaw and Onecle copies because Justia and the official code site blocked direct reads; Onecle copies may predate recent amendments. The solicitor-general role and the opt-out list rest on search summaries, not a read statute. The 72-hour warrant rule (O.C.G.A. 17-4-26) was not re-read.