2022 Georgia Code
Title 17 - Criminal Procedure
Chapter 10 - Sentence and Punishment
Article 2 - Death Penalty Generally
§ 17-10-38. Death Sentences Generally

1. All persons who have been convicted of a capital offense and have had imposed upon them a sentence of death shall suffer such punishment by lethal injection. Lethal injection is the continuous intravenous injection of a substance or substances sufficient to cause death into the body of the person sentenced to death until such person is dead.
2. In all cases in which the defendant is sentenced to death, it shall be the duty of the trial judge in passing sentence to direct that the defendant be delivered to the Department of Corrections for execution of the death sentence at a state correctional institution designated by the department.
3. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, prescription, preparation, compounding, dispensing, or administration of a lethal injection authorized by a sentence of death by a court of competent jurisdiction shall not constitute the practice of medicine or any other profession relating to health care which is subject by law to regulation, licensure, or certification.
4. No state agency, department, or official may, through regulation or otherwise, require or compel a physician to participate in the execution of a death sentence. “To participate in the execution of a death sentence” means any of the following actions: selecting injection sites; starting an intravenous line or lines as a port for a lethal injection device; prescribing, preparing, administering, or supervising injection drugs or their doses or types; inspecting, testing, or maintaining lethal injection devices; or consulting with or supervising lethal injection personnel.

History. Ga. L. 1924, p. 195, § 1; Code 1933, § 27-2512; Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 330, § 1; Ga. L. 1985, p. 283, § 1; Ga. L. 2000, p. 947, § 3.

Editor’s notes.

Ga. L. 2000, p. 947, § 1, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “It is the intention of the General Assembly to provide for execution by lethal injection for persons sentenced to death after conviction of capital crimes committed on or after May 1, 2000. It is the further intention of the General Assembly that persons sentenced to death for crimes committed prior to the effective date of this Act be executed by lethal injection if the Supreme Court of the United States declares that electrocution violates the Constitution of the United States or if the Supreme Court of Georgia declares that electrocution violates the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of Georgia.”

Ga. L. 2000, p. 947, § 6, not codified by the General Assembly, provides that: “Section 3 of this Act shall apply to persons sentenced to death for crimes committed on or after May 1, 2000. Code Section 17-10-38 as it existed prior to its amendment by Section 3 of this Act shall continue to apply with respect to crimes committed prior to May 1, 2000, except that Section 3 of this Act shall apply to all persons sentenced to death for crimes committed prior to May 1, 2000, if the Supreme Court of the United States declares that electrocution violates the Constitution of the United States or if the Supreme Court of Georgia declares that electrocution violates the Constitution of the United States or the Constitution of Georgia.”

Law reviews.

For article, “The Constitutional Right not to Kill,” see 62 Emory L.J. 121 (2012).

For comment, “Making the Murderer’s Voyeurs: The Influence of Violent Crime Exposure, Social Movements, and Desensitization on Georgia’s Treatment of the Death Penalty,” see 72 Mercer L. Rev. 883 (2021).