No longer is Georgia one of the handful of jurisdictions in the United States with no procedure to provide some measure of compensation to those who have been wrongfully convicted. The new legislation, effective July 1, 2025, is titled “Wrongful Conviction and Incarceration Compensation Act,” and is codified at O.C.G.A. §§ 17-22-1 –12. Prior to enactment of the Act, Georgia had been among only 13 states which had no formal mechanism by which victims of wrongful convictions could seek statutory compensation for the time they lost in prison.
Under the Act, exonerees have three years from July 1, 2025, or the date of exoneration, whichever is later, in which to file a claim with the Office of State Administrative Hearings. The claim must be accompanied by verifiable evidence of innocence and will be decided by an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ). A claimant must demonstrate his or her innocence and resultant wrongful conviction with a showing that the individual did not commit, aid or abet, or act as an accomplice to the crime resulting in a conviction. If a claim is successful, an exoneree is entitled to recover $75,000 for each year of wrongful incarceration, and an additional $25,000 for each year served on death row. The ALJ may also award reasonable and necessary attorneys’ fees, as well as costs and expenses incurred in reversing or vacating the conviction, obtaining a pardon, and filing for compensation under the Act.
The Georgia Post-Exoneration Compensation Act is an important step toward helping ensure that those who have lost years of their lives to a wrongful conviction have some means of securing compensation for what they have lost. Wrongful convictions wreck lives – many exonerees understandably struggle in finding their way after years or decades behind prison walls. It is critically important that those who have been the victims of wrongful conviction have some means to seek compensation for all that they have lost when wrongfully convicted and imprisoned for crimes they did not commit.
