Jessica Cooper is a 2L from the University of Georgia School of Law in Athens and a member of the Georgia First Amendment Foundation’s Legislative Watch team. (Courtesy photo)
Lawmakers’ proposed amendment to Georgia’s First Offender Act would allow public officials who plead guilty of corruption to hide their criminal records from the public.
The change is contained in House Bill 909, which mandates automatic sealing of court records for all eligible individuals under the First Offender Act. The bill would erase the public-interest balancing test that judges currently use when determining whether to seal a criminal record. The amendment would deprive the public of access to information about crimes committed by people in positions of public trust. This runs afoul of the common law right of access to court records and Georgia’s long-established precedent of government transparency.
