Peachtree City is renaming its first offender program for municipal court and widening its scope.
In the past, the program has been limited to persons under 21 years old, allowing them to have a charge of underage possession of alcohol removed from their record should they successfully complete their sentence.
The new “pre-trial intervention program” is being expanded to include other minor offenses, and also eliminate the age requirement.
The caveat is that the defendant must have no prior record for the same offense or similar offenses, must enter a guilty plea, pay a fine and also an administrative fee of $50. City Solicitor Marcia Moran said the defendant must also meet all conditions of his or her probation sentence.
The ordinance amendments were approved by the City Council Thursday night.
As an example of the potential uses of the new program, Moran noted an increase in the number of older persons being arrested for shoplifting, who if they qualify for pre-trial intervention could keep the offense from being placed on their criminal history record.
Last year there were some 68 shoplifting cases alone prosecuted in municipal court, Moran said, noting this year will end up with “far more than that.”
Under the program, defendants will not be eligible for pre-trial intervention for any offense requiring mandatory suspension of a driver’s license, any code enforcement violations, furnishing alcohol to a minor, alcohol permit violations or state traffic offenses.
