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Georgia

Georgia has no forensic science commission, no statute requiring crime lab accreditation, and no analyst license. The GBI Division of Forensic Sciences runs the state crime lab. Expert evidence is judged under a statutory Daubert standard that has applied in criminal cases since July 1, 2022. Since 2023 the State has added one group to its conviction-based DNA database: people convicted of a felony who are subject to an immigration detainer.

Sources checked
Part of
Forensic Science Tracker

At a glance

Oversight body
None. No statute creates a forensic science commission or independent lab oversight body, and no act from 2023 to 2026 creates one. The GBI Division of Forensic Sciences runs the state crime lab and the medical examiner’s office, which, according to the GBI, serves 153 of Georgia’s 159 counties. It is an operating agency, not an oversight body.
Lab accreditation
No statute found. The GBI Division of Forensic Sciences says it is an ANAB accredited testing laboratory and holds NAME accreditation for its medical examiner’s office (GBI accreditations page). That is agency practice, not a legal requirement found in statute. The official Code could not be searched directly, so a narrower provision in Title 35 cannot be ruled out.
Analyst licensing
None. No statute licenses or certifies forensic analysts, and no act from 2023 to 2026 does.
Admissibility standard
Statutory Daubert. Under O.C.G.A. 24-7-702(b), an expert may give an opinion if the expert’s knowledge will help the trier of fact, the testimony rests on sufficient facts or data, it is the product of reliable principles and methods, and the expert has reliably applied them to the facts. Subsection (f) lets courts draw on Daubert, Joiner, Kumho Tire and federal cases applying them. HB 478 (Act 743), signed May 2, 2022 and effective July 1, 2022, struck “civil” from subsections (a) and (f), so both now apply in criminal cases too, added “In all civil proceedings” to (d) and (e), and rewrote (b) into its current four-part test, including the “will help the trier of fact” element. It also repealed the old criminal-case rule in 24-7-707. Only the pretrial hearing deadline in (d) and the affidavit rule in (e) are limited to civil cases (HB 478, 2021–22 session). Georgia has not adopted the 2023 change to Federal Rule 702: the text has no “more likely than not” burden and no “reflects a reliable application” wording. No act from 2023 to 2026 amends the section.
Post-conviction forensic relief
No changed-science statute was found. A person convicted of a felony may file a motion for forensic DNA testing in the trial court that entered the conviction, subject to the rules for extraordinary motions for new trial (O.C.G.A. 5-5-41(c)(1), as amended in 2011). The motion must show, among other things, a reasonable probability of acquittal had the results been available ((c)(3)(D)). The method must have “reached a scientific state of verifiable certainty” ((c)(7)(F)). A petitioner who is not indigent may be made to pay ((c)(8)). Testing goes to the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences ((c)(9)). Either party may appeal the order ((c)(13)). Paragraphs (c)(2) to (c)(11) date from 2003 and could not be checked against a current official code on October 19, 2026. Biological evidence in felony cases must be kept while the crime is unsolved or until the sentence is completed (17-5-56(b)).
DNA database scope
Conviction-based. A sample is taken from anyone convicted of a felony who is incarcerated, on probation or under the supervision of the Board of Pardons and Paroles for it, from people charged with a felony and sentenced as first offenders or under 16-13-2(a) or (c), and, since May 1, 2024, from anyone convicted of a felony who is subject to an immigration detainer (O.C.G.A. 35-3-160(b)(1)). Misdemeanors are excluded ((b)(3)). There is no arrestee collection; a 2025–26 arrestee bill, SB 29, did not pass.
Facial recognition
None. No statute governs police use of facial recognition. HB 1245 (2023–24) stopped at House Second Readers on February 15, 2024.

Changes, 2023 to 2026

  • DNA taken from people convicted of a felony who are subject to an immigration detainer

    HB 1105 (2024), Act 505, sec. 13Signed May 1, 2024; effective on approval

    The act amends O.C.G.A. 35-3-160(b)(1) to add (C): a DNA sample must be taken from anyone convicted of a felony who is subject to an immigration detainer notice under 42-4-16. The detention facility or supervising entity sends the sample to the GBI Division of Forensic Sciences, and the profile goes into the DNA data bank. People convicted of a felony who were incarcerated or supervised were already covered. The new clause reaches detainer cases whatever their supervision status. It does not add arrestees, and misdemeanors are still excluded. Section 14(a) made the act effective on approval; only section 10, which is not the DNA section, waited until December 31, 2024.

    For practitioners: A DNA profile from a detainer case may now be in the state data bank even if the person was never incarcerated or supervised for the felony.

    HB 1105, 2023–24 session

Pending bills

None. The 2025–26 regular session is over, and bills not enacted are dead. These forensic bills died in 2026.

  • SB 29 would have taken DNA from people arrested for a felony at booking. It passed the Senate and was withdrawn and recommitted in the House on March 27, 2026.
  • SB 116 would have taken DNA from anyone in a detention facility charged with a misdemeanor or felony and subject to an immigration detainer. It passed the Senate and was reported favorably by a House committee on March 12, 2026.
  • HB 1596, the No Evidence Ignored Act, would have had the GBI give local prosecutors forensic database hit information. It stopped at House Second Readers on March 27, 2026.
  • HB 1255 would have rewritten criminal discovery, including a GBI duty to help with independent testing. A House committee reported a substitute on March 6, 2026. HB 1288, on consent or a court order for DNA blood draws, stopped at House Second Readers on February 17, 2026.

Georgia General Assembly legislation search

Checked and unchanged

  • No act from 2023 to 2026 amends O.C.G.A. 24-7-702 (expert testimony). The last change was HB 478 in 2022.
  • No act from 2023 to 2026 amends 5-5-41 (DNA testing motions). HB 208 (2023), which would have added a presumption for lost evidence, died.
  • No statute on genetic genealogy, rapid DNA or digital forensics was enacted from 2023 to 2026.
  • The official Code is hosted by a private publisher and could not be reached. Statute text here comes from enrolled bills and from reprints in later bills. “Unchanged” rests on searches of every enacted bill in the 2023–24 and 2025–26 sessions, not a full citator.

Last updated October 19, 2026Source: United States Council for Law & InvestigationCite as: United States Council for Law & Investigation, “Georgia forensic science oversight: Forensic Science Tracker,” uscli.org/forensic-science-tracker/georgia (last updated October 19, 2026). Text licensed CC BY 4.0.