Should Georgia's arrest laws authorize issuing field citations to more non-traffic misdemeanor offenders? Can an alternative arrest process help alleviate Georgia's jail overcrowding and reduce the time arresting officers expend processing non-traffic misdemeanor offenses?

摘要

This paper analyzes whether Georgia's arrest laws should be changed to authorize the discretionary issuance of field citations to more non-traffic misdemeanor offenders as a means to help alleviate jail overcrowding and reduce the amount of time required by patrol officers to process misdemeanor arrests. This paper includes a review of current Georgia law concerning citation arrests for non-traffic misdemeanor offenses, published literature, a quantitative analysis of the effects of using the field citation process upon officer processing times and the failure to appear rate within the Gwinnett Judicial Circuit, surveys of Georgia law enforcement executives and interviews with court administrators, a jail commander and numerous arresting officers.