Georgia residents could now face additional prison time due to Georgia’s new hate-crime law, which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law Friday.
The law applies to any person who is found guilty of a crime against someone based on sexual orientation, gender, race, color, religion, national origin, sex or mental or physical disability, The Hill reported. It is a set of sentencing guidelines that varies based on the type of crime an individual is convicted of. (RELATED: Tucker Carlson: FBI Won’t Arrest Rioters, But Sent 15 Agents To Investigate ‘Absurd’ Bubba Wallace Noose Story)
GEORGIA HATE CRIME LAW: Gov. Kemp signed a hate crime bill into law at the State Capitol Friday.
“I think the video of the Arbery murder certainly was evidence for a lot of people that we needed this kind of bill,” says House Speaker David Ralston. https://t.co/iydHtE97Xb
— WTVC NewsChannel 9 (@newschannelnine) June 26, 2020
If convicted of a misdemeanor under the new law, the hate crime bill will add an additional 12 months of prison time and will add an additional 2 years of prison time to a felony charge, according to the report, according to the Hill.
Before the bill was signed, Georgia was one of the only states to not have a hate-crime law on the books. Arkansas, South Carolina, and Wyoming are now the only three states without one.
The law was signed on the same day as Rayshard Brooks’ funeral, per the Hill, who was shot June 12 in Atlanta by police after he resisted arrest and stole an officer’s taser. The former Atlanta Police Department officer that shot Brooks, Garrett Rolfe, is facing federal murder charges.
Calls for criminal justice and police reform have been amplified following the death of George Floyd, who died May 25 in Minneapolis Police custody after an officer kneeled on his neck for several minutes. Since the incident, nationwide protests over racism and police brutality erupted, some turning into violent riots.
Georgia was the site of protests for weeks, and riots escalated after Rayshard Brooks’ death when rioters burned down the Wendys where Brooks died.