Retroactive First Offender

First Offender Treatment in Georgia can be used to prevent a felony from becoming a conviction on one’s record. If granted FOT at sentencing, the judge withholds the imposition of a felony on the criminal history, and if the person does everything the judge requests of him/her (probation, fine, community service, rehab, etc.) without getting arrested again, the felony gets restricted from the person’s criminal history. The benefit is that the person can honestly say that he or she is not a convicted felon.

From 2015 to 2017, the Georgia Legislature passed a retroactive First Offender clause. This allows someone who was not informed of FOT at the time of his or her sentencing to apply to take retroactive advantage of it, potentially removing a problematic misdemeanor or felony from his or her criminal record.