The Georgia law raises fundamental questions about prosecutorial discretion. That bedrock of the American judicial system says a prosecutor decides what charges to bring and how heavy of a sentence to seek.“Unfortunately, some DAs have embraced the progressive movement across the nation of refusing to enforce the law. That is a dereliction of duty, and as a result, Georgia’s communities suffer,” Carr wrote on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.
They argue that the governor and the Legislature can’t dictate prosecution rules, because the Georgia Constitution places district attorneys in the state’s judicial branch, making the law violate the constitutional separation of powers. The mandate to examine low-level offenses also distracts prosecutors from more serious crimes, they say.
The law could also require prosecution for possessing small amounts of marijuana, even though the state crime lab refuses to test marijuana seizure less than one ounce .Article content The plaintiffs also argue that the ban on written or oral policies could block them from sending offenders to diversion programs, which resolve cases without criminal convictions.