South Carolina H 3595: Juvenile Diversion Court

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 3595 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 12, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 3595

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING ARTICLE 
25 TO CHAPTER 19, TITLE 63 SO AS TO ESTABLISH JUVENILE PRETRIAL DIVERSION 
COURTS FOR CERTAIN CHILDREN WHO COMMIT FIRST-TIME, NONVIOLENT STATUS OFFENSES 
OR DELINQUENT ACTS, TO ESTABLISH PARAMETERS FOR ELIGIBILITY, AND TO DIRECT THE 
DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE TO ESTABLISH PREDETENTION DIVERSION PROGRAMS FOR 
PARTICIPANTS, AMONG OTHER THINGS.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Chapter 19, Title 63 of the S.C. Code is amended by 
adding:

Article 25

Juvenile Pretrial Diversion Courts

 Section 
63-19-2510. There is created within the family courts of this State, special 
juvenile pretrial diversion courts. At least one juvenile pretrial diversion 
court of predetention nature must be established in each judicial circuit in 
the State to provide services to children in all counties in that circuit for 
the purpose of offering an alternative to referral to the juvenile justice 
system for all children who commit first-time, nonviolent, as defined in 
Section 16-1-70, status offense or delinquent acts.

 Section 
63-19-2520. (A) Each court must 
be available to serve all eligible children in each county in that circuit, and 
no child may be required to pay court or program fees. These courts must divert 
eligible children from initial contact with the juvenile justice system using 
approaches designed by the Department of Juvenile Justice that are 
evidence-based, culturally relevant, trauma-informed, developmentally 
appropriate, and that promote long-term success for children.

 (B) 
The Department of Juvenile Justice shall develop a plan for the establishment, 
implementation, and oversight of predetention diversion programs around the 
State to which first-time, nonviolent offenders must be referred by the 
juvenile pretrial diversion courts. The department shall provide competitively 
awarded funding to at least one such program in each judicial circuit to 
supplement other funding received by the program. Programs receiving funding 
from the department must adhere to the standards and procedures for such 
programs developed by the department, which must include requirements for 
applicants, organizational characteristics, reporting and auditing criteria, 
and such other standards for eligibility and accountability, and funding shall 
be based on the number of children served and such other requirements as may be 
established by the department. Predetention diversion programs may incorporate 
some or all of the following: educational services, including academic and 
vocational services; mentoring services; mental health services; and behavioral 
health services.

 (C) 
A law enforcement officer who takes a child into custody for a nonviolent 
offense, as defined in Section 16-1-70, shall utilize a database system 
provided by the department to review the child's criminal history with the 
juvenile justice system. If the child has no prior referral to the department, 
the law enforcement officer must refer the child to the local juvenile pretrial 
diversion court for that circuit utilizing a referral form provided by the 
department, and must provide a copy of the referral form to the child's parent 
or guardian, the department, and the entity designated to run the predetention 
diversion program.

 (D) 
If a referral to the juvenile justice system is received for a first-time 
nonviolent offender, the referral may not be accepted and must be returned to 
the referral source with instructions to refer the child to the entity 
designated to run the predetention diversion program in that respective 
circuit.

 (E) 
All records of a child's referral to and participation in a juvenile pretrial 
diversion court and predetention diversion program must be kept separate from 
records of children referred to the juvenile justice system. A referral to a 
juvenile pretrial diversion court and predetention diversion program is not a 
referral to the juvenile justice system, and accordingly, must not be reflected 
on a child's criminal history.

 (F) 
Each predetention diversion program shall submit data to the department on at 
least an annual basis which identifies for each child participating in the 
diversion program:

 (1) 
the race, ethnicity, gender, and age of that child;

 (2) 
the alleged offense committed, including the statute number of the offense;

 (3) 
the county in which the offense was committed and the law enforcement agency 
that had contact with the child for the offense; and

 (4) 
other information as specified by the department or the court.

 Section 
63-19-2530. I