Under Georgia's public disclosure laws, the state must release most agency records to the public upon request. However, in cases where records contain personal information--such as in criminal cases--there may be some restrictions on information that may be released to the public. Additionally, Georgia public disclosure laws set certain criteria for payment for such records. These costs may be associated with the copying of records or with the cost incurred in the state's performance of a criminal background check.
Criminal Records Available to the Public
Under Georgia state law, any agency holding records of a person's criminal history, along with arrest records, must make such records available to members of the public requesting them. However, there are some exemptions applying to certain records that agencies may withhold under Georgia law. If documents relating to the criminal history of an individual are requested from the Georgia Crime Information Center, the agency may not release any documentation in their possession relating to that individual's criminal history (including arrest records, complaints and convictions) in other states, with the federal government or in the jurisdiction of another country--unless such records are contained in an investigatory case file for a case that is no longer under investigation. Additionally, GCIC may issue only records of felony convictions in Georgia to parties seeking criminal history information on another party. Another restriction on criminal history information available to parties seeking criminal background information deals with complaints of domestic violence. No law enforcement agency in Georgia may release records relating to accusations of domestic violence unless the accused party was arrested.
Juvenile Criminal Records
Under Georgia law, most criminal records relating to juveniles (17 years or younger) are restricted and may not be released to the public. However, there are instances under Georgia law where juvenile records pertaining to certain crimes may be disclosed to the public. Under law, records of arrest, incident reports and closed case files for offenses exclusively under the jurisdiction of state superior court involving minors 13 years and older may be released to the public if the offense in question was murder, voluntary manslaughter, rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated child molestation, aggravated sexual battery or armed robbery. Incident reports and arrest records of juveniles 13 years and older relating to certain felony offenses under the jurisdiction of the state juvenile court may also be released to the public if the offense in question was a second or subsequent charge of possession of a handgun, kidnapping, first- or second-degree arson, aggravated assault, aggravated battery, robbery, battery of school personnel, attempted murder, attempted kidnapping, hijacking a motor vehicle, or possession or manufacture of a destructive device, such as a bomb.
Records of arrest or incident reports relating to certain offenses under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court may be released to the public regardless of the age of the juvenile at the time of the offense. These offenses are possession of a weapon on or near school property, a second or subsequent charge of hoaxing an explosive device, drug trafficking, criminal racketeering, participation in a criminal street gang, escape from custody for a felony offense and theft of a motor vehicle.
Record-Copying Costs
Under Georgia public disclosure laws, agencies may charge a member of the public up to 25 cents per page in copying costs for requested criminal history documents. However, under state law, if a request is made for criminal history documents of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, the agency cannot charge any more than a total of $20 for all requested documents.
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