Sentencing and Imposition of Punishment; making determinations with respect to probation and suspension of sentences; provide
Would have required courts to weigh a person's immigration status and the chance of deportation in deciding whether to grant probation, and required the Board of Pardons and Paroles to weigh it and deny parole in certain cases. Died in Senate committee.
What This Bill Does
SB 568 would have changed O.C.G.A. 17-10-1.3 so that, when a person being sentenced could be deported while on probation, the court "shall" (previously "may") consider the state's interest in complete execution of sentences and the likelihood that deportation would frustrate it, and "where appropriate, decline to probate a sentence." It would also have required the State Board of Pardons and Paroles to inquire into a prisoner's immigration status and to deny parole in certain circumstances involving non-citizens who are inadmissible or subject to removal. It was referred to a Senate committee and never received a vote.
GPS opposes this bill because it would keep people in prison longer, withholding probation and parole on the basis of immigration status rather than conduct.