Gov. Nathan Deal signed the latest and last criminal justice reform legislation Monday, approved by the final General Assembly of his eight years in office.

The bill directs judges to offer alternatives to money bail for misdemeanor offenses, although it doesn't ban it altogether, as some jurisdictions—such as the city of Atlanta—have done in the past year.

Deal described the legislation as “providing increased flexibility and transparency”—giving judges “more opportunities to utilize community service and educational advancement as alternatives to fines or as a condition of probation.” The legislation is based on recommendations from the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform and builds upon Deal's previous criminal justice reform initiatives.

“In the past eight years, Georgia has become the standard-bearer for many pressing areas of our time, but perhaps none more so than criminal justice reform,” Deal said in a news release after the Monday afternoon signing ceremony. “For the better part of a decade, we have implemented new reform measures, expanded initiatives of prior years and adjusted our policies where needed to create a criminal justice system that is more efficient and more equitable.”

Deal said the misdemeanor bail reforms will “make Georgia a safer place to call home for all of its citizens by recognizing that mercy and accountability are not mutually exclusive.”

The revisions within Senate Bill 407 require judges to consider the financial circumstances of an accused individual when determining bail. Deal said the change furthers “efforts to incarcerate only the most serious and violent offenders, rather than individuals who simply cannot afford the costs of bail.” By also giving judges additional opportunities to assign community service and educational advancement, the governor said, “we are truly rehabilitating non-violent offenders, not hardening them, and further diverting them from dark and dangerous paths.”

Deal took the opportunity to thank the members of the Georgia Council on Criminal Justice Reform for their eight years of service, as well as the sponsors of this year's legislation: Sen. Brian Strickland, R-McDonough, and Rep. Chuck Efstration, R-Dacula. And the governor noted the widespread support for SB 407, which passed the House with a vote of 172-0 and passed the Senate with a vote of 49-2.

Deal also reviewed criminal justice reform highlights during his administration.

“At the start of 2011, Georgia's prisons were operating at 107 percent of capacity, and the state's incarceration rate was the fourth-highest in the nation, with 1 in 70 adult Georgians behind bars, expected to further increase in the coming years,” Deal said. “Due to criminal justice reform measures, including the diversion and rehabilitation of nonviolent offenders to accountability courts, our prison population instead declined and our recidivism rate has decreased, saving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars.”

Between 2009 and 2017, new overall commitments to Georgia's prison system dropped 18.6 percent, Deal said. Last year, annual commitments to state prisons reached the lowest number since 2002.

“In particular, African-Americans have historically been disproportionately represented in Georgia's prison system,” Deal said. “Between 2009 and 2017, commitments of African-American males dropped 29.7 percent and commitments of African-American females declined 38.2 percent.” Overall, the number of African-Americans committed to prison in 2017 was at the lowest level since 1987, the governor said.

“Because of our accountability courts and the emphasis we have placed on rehabilitation measures within our corrections facilities—such as education and jobs-training programs—we are helping those who have made mistakes reclaim their lives and we are making our communities safer,” Deal said. He said overall crime has decreased by 24 percent between 2008 and 2016.