2021 Georgia Code
Title 20 - Education
Chapter 2 - Elementary and Secondary Education
Article 16 - Students
Part 1 - School Attendance
Subpart 2 - Compulsory Attendance
§ 20-2-698. Peace Officers May Take Temporary Custody of Truant Children Away From Home
Any peace officer may assume temporary custody, during school hours, of any child subject to compulsory school attendance who is found away from home and who is absent from a public or private school or a home study program without a valid written excuse from school officials or from the parent or guardian in charge of the home study program.
(Ga. L. 1976, p. 768, § 1; Ga. L. 1984, p. 1266, § 5.)
Cross references.- Taking of child into custody generally, § 15-11-45 et seq.
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Officer reasonably stopping juvenile for violation.
- Evidence sufficiently supported a juvenile defendant's adjudication of delinquency based upon obstruction of a law enforcement officer in violation of O.C.G.A. § 16-10-24(a) as the officer was in the lawful discharge of official duties when the officer asked the juvenile to stop in order to investigate the possibility of truancy pursuant to O.C.G.A. §§ 20-2-698 and20-2-699; the juvenile's actions in running away despite the officer's command to stop gave the officer further reasonable suspicion that the juvenile was involved in illegal activity. In re E.C., 292 Ga. App. 798, 665 S.E.2d 896 (2008).
RESEARCH REFERENCES
C.J.S.
- 78A C.J.S., Schools and School Districts, §§ 1027, 1028.
ALR.
- Regulations forbidding pupils to leave school grounds during school hours, 32 A.L.R. 1342; 48 A.L.R. 659.
