Murder in Georgia law constitutes the killing, under circumstances defined by law, of people within or under the jurisdiction of the U.S. state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The United States

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

reported that in the year 2021, the state had a murder rate somewhat above the median for the entire country.

Definitions

Malice murder

Georgia has five different homicide offenses in total, including the three different types of murder. The most serious forms of homicide are

malice murder Malice murder is a criminal offense in the U.S. state of Georgia, committed when a homicide is done with express or implied malice. Definition According to Georgia law, express malice is "that deliberate intention unlawfully to take the life of ...

and

felony murder The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in so ...

. Malice murder is defined as when a person unlawfully and with malice aforethought, either express or implied, causes the death of another human being. It is punished by

life in prison Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life imprisonment are co ...

without the possibility of

parole Parole, also known as provisional release, supervised release, or being on paper, is a form of early release of a prisoner, prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated ...

, life-with-parole after 30 years, or the death penalty. The only exception for seeking the death penalty is for murders committed when the defendant was under the age of 18, since the death penalty for minors was abolished nationwide in 2005.

Felony murder

Felony murder The rule of felony murder is a legal doctrine in some common law jurisdictions that broadens the crime of murder: when someone is killed (regardless of intent to kill) in the commission of a dangerous or enumerated crime (called a felony in so ...

is defined as when a person causes the death of another human being during the commission of a felony (besides second-degree child cruelty), irrespective of malice. It is punished by life-without-parole, life-with-parole after 30 years, or the death penalty if the death of the victim was intended. The death penalty for unintentional felony murder was abolished nationwide in 1982.

Second-degree murder

Second-degree murder is the newest homicide statute in Georgia law, being created in 2014. It is defined as causing the death of another human being while committing second-degree

child cruelty Child abuse (also called child endangerment or child maltreatment) is physical, sexual, emotional and/or psychological maltreatment or neglect of a child, especially by a parent or a caregiver. Child abuse may include any act or failure to a ...

, irrespective of malice. The statute was created to address the issue of child deaths caused by intentional abuse (first-degree child cruelty) and accidental abuse (second-degree child cruelty) being punished as the same under the state's felony murder rule. It is punished by 10 to 30 years in prison.

Penalties

The sentences for homicide offenses in Georgia are listed below.

References

{{Murder in the United States by jurisdiction Murder in Georgia (U.S. state) U.S. state criminal law Georgia (U.S. state) law