What is Georgia doing about criminal street gangs?

 Georgia’s new statewide gang unit will soon start prosecuting crimes across The Peach State.

Georgia’s more than $30.2 billion fiscal 2023 budget includes $1.6 million for the new Gang Prosecution Unit, which will be housed in the attorney general’s Prosecution Division. Additionally, House Bill 1134 gave the attorney general concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute criminal gang activity statewide.

The state hired Fulton County Deputy District Attorney Cara Convery, the deputy district attorney of the Fulton County Gang Unit, to lead the state unit, effective June 16. Convery has prosecuted several high-profile murder and other criminal cases.

“By partnering with our local, state and federal partners, we will develop cases that attack our state’s most serious threat to public safety in dangerous criminal street gangs,” Convery said in an announcement.

The unit’s team has eight prosecutors and four paralegals and will prosecute “serious gang crimes” statewide. The unit will work with state agencies, law enforcement and local and federal prosecutors to prosecute gangs, which state officials say operate in every county in Georgia.

“All Georgians deserve to be safe and when our unit takes effect on July 1, we will work every day to ensure violent criminals are aggressively prosecuted and put behind bars,” Attorney General Chris Carr said in an announcement.