Georgia to weaken citizen’s arrest law in wake of murder of jogger Ahmaud Arbery

Statehouse approves bill 169-0 to weaken bill cited to defend killings of African Americans since 1863

State lawmakers in Georgia approved a bill to repeal the state's citizen arrest law, sending it to the desk of governor Brian Kemp just over a year after the fatal shooting of a black man chased down by three white men.

The statehouse voted 169-0 to approve changes made by the state senate to House bill 479. The bill would remove the right of people to make an arrest if a crime is committed around them or “within their immediate knowledge".

The bill was a top priority of the legislature after the killing of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery who was out for a jog when he was pursued and shot by three white men who told police they thought he was responsible for break-ins in their neighbourhood.

The law cited in their defence was gutted Wednesday as lawmakers approved the removal of language that allows citizens to arrest each other, which critics say have been used by white citizens to defend killings of African-Americans, The New York Times reported.

Governor Kemp, a Republican, said in a statement: “I look forward to signing it into law as we continue to send a clear message that the Peach State will not tolerate sinister acts of vigilantism in our communities."

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Governor Kemp signed a new hate crimes law last June, legislation also put into motion after Mr Arbery's death.

The overhauled citizens arrest law would still allow for self-defence and for business owners to restrain those they suspect of stealing. Mr Kemp described this as a “critical balance".

The original version of the law was enacted during the civil war in 1863 to allow white citizens to capture slaves who were fleeing to free states in the north. It was later cited to defend lynchings in the hundreds. 531 lynchings took place in the state between 1882 and 1968, placing Georgia second behind Mississippi according to rankings by the NAACP.

State Representative Carl Gilliard said the law was steeped in racism and that it's “outdated and antiquated," the Associated Press reported.

The president of the Georgia NAACP, the Reverend James Woodall, said the legislative move was “a monumental moment in Georgia history".

Bystanders and witnesses to a crime would generally no longer have the right to detain anyone under the bill. Deadly force cannot be used unless in self-defence, while protecting a home, or to prevent a forcible felony. But the state's "stand your ground" law would remain on the books, which states that a person isn't required to retreat.

Republican state representative Bert Reeves said: “Deadly force is only permissible to be used if you are defending yourself or somebody else against a forcible felony or the threat of substantial bodily injury or death."

Licensed security guards and private detectives would still be allowed to detain people. If the police don’t arrive within a reasonable time, someone who has been detained must be released along with their belongings.

Mr Reeves said: “We have created structure around what this detention looks like. There are rules. You have to have probable cause. It has to be reasonable. You have to call the police in a reasonable time or release that person.”

Bryan Stevenson, executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative in Alabama, told The New York Times: “It is an important and necessary step. The notion that citizens, and we should understand that these laws were largely written for white citizens, have to be partners in maintaining control over Black people dates back to slavery.”

The Republican support for the bill comes after they pushed through another law that restricts access to voting. The law was seen by Democrats and voting rights groups as an attempt to make it harder for African Americans to vote in the wake of Joe Biden's win in the state in November and the election of two Democratic senators in early January.

Mr Kemp will now be able to cite his support for the new hate crimes bill and the overhaul of the citizen arrests law to appeal to the small group of black Georgia voters who may be open to conservative policies in some areas, The New York Times writes.

University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock told the paper: “If that voter believes that the Republican Party is taking racist stands, they’re not about to vote for a Republican.”