Georgia Gov. Kemp repeals Civil War-era citizen's arrest law year after Ahmaud Arbery shooting

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp repealed a Civil War-era state citizen’s arrest law this week, signing new legislation more than a year after the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man pursued by White men who suspected him of a crime in their neighborhood. 

"This bill makes Georgia the first state in the country to repeal its citizen's arrest statue," Kemp said Monday before signing the measure. "Today we are replacing this Civil War-era law, ripe for abuse, with language that balances the sacred right of self-defense of person and property with our shared responsibility to root out injustice and set our state on a better path forward." Those who had pushed for the repeal said the law was approved in 1863 to round up escaped slaves and was later used to justify the lynching of African Americans. Outcry over Arbery’s shooting also pushed lawmakers last year to pass a new hate crimes law in Georgia, more than 15 years after the state Supreme Court overturned an earlier law.