ATLANTA – Legislation that would enhance criminal penalties for students who threaten their school passed the Georgia Senate Thursday.
Senate Bill 61 was pushed by Republicans and passed 33-22 in a party-line vote.
It would allow children aged 13 to 17 to be tried as adults for terroristic threatening. They could also land in superior court for attempting to commit, or for conspiracy to commit, terroristic threatening.
The legislation also would allow prosecutors to move other serious crimes into superior court, including aggravated assault with a gun or armed robbery.
SB 61 is among several measures GOP senators have offered in reaction to the mass shooting last fall at Apalachee High School in Barrow County.
The chief sponsor, Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, called it a school safety bill.
But Sen. Emanuel Jones, D-Decatur, said he saw it as criminalizing kids.
At a committee hearing last week, critics said children’s brains are not fully developed and they sometimes do “dumb things.” If one of those things is phoning a threat to their school, it could land them in superior court, with a lifelong criminal record, they said.
Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, R-Dahlonega, told reporters that SB 61 was necessary to confront “heinous” crimes like the mass shooting at Apalachee High. He noted that the legislation gives prosecutors discretion about whether to try children as adults.
“We just have to give the district attorneys the tools in order to protect the citizens of Georgia,” Gooch said.
The bill now moves to the Georgia House of Representatives.