Accountability Courts in Georgia

Georgia’s accountability courts are treatment-based divisions that trial courts may create under separate statutes: drug courts (O.C.G.A. § 15-1-15), mental health courts (§ 15-1-16), veterans courts (§ 15-1-17), and juvenile treatment courts, under standards of the Council of Accountability Court Judges (§ 15-1-18). In the first three, a case can enter before sentencing with the prosecutor’s consent, as part of a sentence, or on a probation revocation petition.

Drug court divisions are not limited to felonies

Section 15-1-15(a)(1) allows “Any court that has jurisdiction over any criminal case which arises from the use, sale, possession, delivery, distribution, purchase, or manufacture of a controlled substance, noncontrolled substance, dangerous drug, or other drug” to establish a drug court division. Nothing in that text limits it to felony courts or to adults.

Who gets in is set by each division’s work plan, which “shall ensure that drug court division eligibility shall be focused on moderate-risk and high-risk offenders as determined by a risk and needs assessment.” The statute defines that assessment as “an actuarial tool, approved by the Council of Accountability Court Judges of Georgia and validated on a targeted population”. A defendant whose assessed risk is low may therefore fall outside the program’s focus even with a drug-related case.

Three ways a case reaches the court

For drug court divisions, § 15-1-15(a)(2) lets the court assign an eligible case:

1. “Prior to the entry of the sentence, if the prosecuting attorney consents”;
2. “As part of a sentence in a case”; or
3. “Upon consideration of a petition to revoke probation.”

The mental health and veterans court statutes, §§ 15-1-16 and 15-1-17, use the same three routes.

What finishing the program does

Each division defines successful completion, and § 15-1-15(b) ties the result to the route:

• Completion “prior to the entry of judgment”: the case “may be dismissed by the prosecuting attorney.”
• Completion “as part of a sentence imposed by the court”: the sentence “may be reduced or modified.”

Both outcomes say “may”. The statute also provides that a guilty or nolo contendere plea entered under it “may not be withdrawn without the consent of the court”, and that it does not permit a judge “to impose, modify, or reduce a sentence below the minimum sentence required by law.”

What a participant says in treatment

Under § 15-1-15(c), statements a participant makes as part of the program, and staff reports about the participant’s substance use, “shall not be admissible as evidence against the participant in any legal proceeding or prosecution”. The exception: if the participant violates the program’s conditions or is terminated, “the reasons for the violation or termination may be considered in sanctioning, sentencing, or otherwise disposing of the participant’s case.” Treatment records obtained by the division are confidential and not subject to the Open Records Act, subpoena, or discovery (§ 15-1-15(e)).

The other divisions

• Mental health court divisions (§ 15-1-16) follow the same entry and completion structure for cases involving mental illness or developmental disability. Unlike the drug court statute, the 2016 text excludes some charges: defendants charged with murder, murder in the second degree, armed robbery, rape, aggravated sodomy, aggravated sexual battery, aggravated child molestation, or child molestation “shall not be eligible for entry into the mental health court division”, except for a separate court-supervised reentry program after a term of incarceration.
• Veterans court divisions (§ 15-1-17). The 2016 text lists the same excluded charges, without murder in the second degree, and the same reentry exception. A 2017 law, Senate Bill 174, required veterans court divisions “to adhere to the same policies, procedures, and standards as other accountability courts”, according to the Office of Legislative Counsel’s 2017 summary.
• Juvenile treatment court divisions. House Bill 873, effective July 1, 2024, authorized juvenile courts to establish them to provide “an alternative to the traditional judicial system for the disposition of juvenile delinquency and child in need of services cases.”

The Council of Accountability Court Judges sets standards and practices and certifies divisions; for drug court divisions, § 15-1-15(a)(4) conditions state funding on certification or a waiver.

Accountability courts and the deferral statutes

Accountability courts are separate from Georgia’s statutory deferral laws. A defendant with no prior felony may be eligible for the Georgia First Offender Act, and a first drug possession case may qualify for conditional discharge for drug offenses in Georgia.

Sources

• O.C.G.A. §§ 15-1-15, 15-1-16, 15-1-17, 15-1-18 (law.onecle.com mirror, page last modified October 14, 2016). The Legislative Counsel summaries for 2017 through 2026 list amendments only to § 15-1-17 (Senate Bill 174, 2017) and § 15-1-18 (House Bill 873, 2024) among these sections.
• Office of Legislative Counsel, Summaries of General Statutes Enacted at the 2017 Session (Senate Bill 174) and the 2024 Session (House Bill 873).

General information about Georgia criminal law as of October 2026. It is not legal advice, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.