2025 Georgia Codes – Page 36

The provisions of Code Sections 16-5-90 and 16-5-91 shall not apply to persons engaged in activities pro-
tected by the Constitution of the United States or of this state or to persons or employees of such persons
lawfully engaged in bona fide business activity or lawfully engaged in the practice of a profession.

Amended 2024
(a) As used in this Code section, the term:
(1) “Civil family violence order” means any temporary protective order or permanent protective order issued
pursuant to Article 1 of Chapter 13 of Title 19 or Chapter 13A of Title 19.
(2) “Criminal family violence order” means:
(A) Any order of pretrial release issued as a result of an arrest for an act of family violence; or
(B) Any order for probation issued as a result of a conviction or plea of guilty, nolo contendere, or first
offender to an act of family violence.
(3) “Dating violence” means the occurrence of one or more of the following acts between persons
through whom a current pregnancy has developed or who are currently, or within the last 12 months
were, in a dating relationship as defined in paragraph (1) of Code Section 19-13A-1:
(A) Any felony; or
(B) Commission of the offenses of simple battery, battery, simple assault, or stalking.
(4) “Dating violence order” means any temporary protective order or permanent protective order issued
pursuant to Chapter 13A of Title 19.
(5) “Family violence” means the occurrence of one or more of the following acts between past or present
spouses, persons who are parents of the same child, parents and children, stepparents and stepchildren,
foster parents and foster children, or other persons living or formerly living in the same household:
(A) Any felony; or
(B) Commission of offenses of battery, simple battery, simple assault, assault, stalking, criminal damage
to property, unlawful restraint, or criminal trespass.
The term “family violence” shall not be deemed to include reasonable discipline administered by a par-
ent to a child in the form of corporal punishment, restraint, or detention.
(b) A person commits the offense of violating a civil family violence order or dating violence order or crimi-
nal family violence order when such person knowingly and in a nonviolent manner violates the terms of
such order issued against that person, which:
(1) Excludes, evicts, or excludes and evicts the person from a residence or household;
(2) Directs the person to stay away from a residence, workplace, or school;
(3) Restrains the person from approaching within a specified distance of another person; or
(4) Restricts the person from having any contact, direct or indirect, by telephone, pager, facsimile, email, or
any other means of communication with another person, except as specified in such order.
(c) Any person convicted of a violation of subsection (b) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemean-
or.
(d) Nothing contained in this Code section shall prohibit a prosecution for the offense of stalking or aggravat-
ed stalking that arose out of the same course of conduct; provided, however, that, for purposes of sentencing,
a violation of this Code section shall be merged with a violation of any provision of Code Section 16-5-90 or

As used in this article, the term:
(0.1) “Abuse of access” means the illegal taking of resources belonging to a disabled adult or elder person
when access to the resources was obtained due to the disabled adult’s or elder person’s mental or physical
incapacity.
(1) “Alzheimer’s disease” means a progressive, degenerative disease or condition that attacks the brain and
results in impaired memory, thinking, and behavior.
(2) “Dementia” means:
(A) An irreversible global loss of cognitive function causing evident intellectual impairment which always
includes memory loss, without alteration of state of consciousness, as diagnosed by a physician, and is
severe enough to interfere with work or social activities, or both, and to require at least intermittent care or
supervision; or
(B) The comatose state of an adult resulting from any head injury.
(3) “Disabled adult” means a person 18 years of age or older who is mentally or physically incapacitated or
has Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
(4) “Elder person” means a person 65 years of age or older.
(5) “Essential services” means social, medical, psychiatric, or legal services necessary to safeguard a disabled
adult’s, elder person’s, or resident’s rights and resources and to maintain the physical and mental well-being
of such person. Such services may include, but not be limited to, the provision of medical care for physical
and mental health needs, assistance in personal hygiene, food, clothing, adequately heated and ventilated
shelter, and protection from health and safety hazards.
(6) “Exploit” means illegally or improperly using a disabled adult or elder person or that person’s resources
through undue influence, coercion, harassment, duress, deception, false representation, false pretense, abuse
of access, or other similar means for one’s own or another person’s profit or advantage.
(7) “Long-term care facility” means any skilled nursing facility, intermediate care home, assisted living com-
munity, community living arrangement, or personal care home subject to regulation and licensure by the
Department of Community Health.
(7.1) “Mentally or physically incapacitated” means an impairment which substantially affects an individual’s
ability to:
(A) Provide personal protection;
(B) Provide necessities, including but not limited to food, shelter, clothing, medical, or other health care;
(C) Carry out the activities of daily living; or
(D) Manage his or her resources.
(8) “Resident” means any person who is receiving treatment or care in any long-term care facility.
(9) “Sexual abuse” means the coercion for the purpose of self-gratification by a guardian or other person
supervising the welfare or having immediate charge, control, or custody of a disabled adult, elder person, or
resident to engage in any of the following conduct:
(A) Lewd exhibition of the genitals or pubic area of any person;
(B) Flagellation or torture by or upon a person who is unclothed or partially unclothed;
(C) Condition of being fettered, bound, or otherwise physically restrained on the part of a person who is
unclothed or partially clothed unless physical restraint is medically indicated;
(D) Physical contact in an act of sexual stimulation or gratification with any person’s unclothed genitals,
pubic area, or buttocks or with a female’s nude breasts;
(E) Defecation or urination for the purpose of sexual stimulation of the viewer; or
(F) Penetration of the vagina or rectum by any object except when done as part of a recognized medical or
nursing procedure.