South Carolina S 85: Street Gang and Criminal Enterprise Prevention

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 85 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 11, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 85

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 SO AS TO ENACT 
THE "SOUTH CAROLINA CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE AND RACKETEERING SUPPRESSION ACT"; BY 
AMENDING ARTICLE 3 OF CHAPTER 8, TITLE 16, RELATING TO THE CRIMINAL GANG PREVENTION 
ACT, SO AS TO RETITLE THE ARTICLE, REVISE THE DEFINITIONS FOR PURPOSES OF THE 
ARTICLE, AND RESTRUCTURE THE ARTICLE AND THE OFFENSES AND PENALTIES CONTAINED 
WITHIN IT; AND BY ADDING ARTICLE 5 TO CHAPTER 8, TITLE 16 SO AS TO CREATE 
ANTI-RACKETEERING PROVISIONS TO COMPLIMENT THE REVISED CRIMINAL ENTERPRISE 
SUPPRESSION ARTICLE, DEFINE NECESSARY TERMS, AND CREATE VARIOUS RACKETEERING 
OFFENSES AND ESTABLISH PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS.

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

SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the "South Carolina Criminal Enterprise and 
Racketeering Suppression Act".

SECTION 2. The 
General Assembly finds that:

 (1) It is the 
right of every person, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, national 
origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, or handicap to be secure and protected 
from fear, intimidation, and physical harm caused by the activities of criminal 
enterprises and their members. It is not the intent of this act to interfere 
with the exercise of the constitutionally protected rights of freedom of 
expression and association. The General Assembly recognizes the constitutional 
right of every citizen to harbor and express beliefs on any lawful subject, to 
lawfully associate with others who share similar beliefs, to petition lawfully 
constituted authority for a redress of perceived grievances, and to participate 
in the electoral process.

 (2) Criminal 
enterprise activities, both individually by its members and collectively, 
present a clear and present danger in South Carolina and the current laws of 
this State provide inadequate remedies, procedures, and punishments. The 
General Assembly finds that criminal enterprise activity continues to grow and 
flourish because of defects in the evidence-gathering process of the law which 
inhibits the development and use of legally admissible evidence necessary to 
bring criminal remedies to bear on the unlawful activities of criminal 
enterprises and because the sanctions and remedies presently available to the State 
are unnecessarily limited in scope and impact. Therefore, the General Assembly 
declares that it is the purpose of this act to seek the eradication of criminal 
enterprises in this State by strengthening the legal tools in the 
evidence-gathering process, by establishing new penal prohibitions, and by 
providing enhanced penalties and adequate remedies to suppress and prevent such 
criminal enterprise activity and to maintain public order and safety.

SECTION 3. Sections 16-8-210 through 16-8-240 of the S.C. Code are 
amended to read:

 Section 
16-8-210. This article may be cited as the "Criminal Gang 
Prevention Act South Carolina Criminal Enterprise 
Suppression Act".

 Section 
16-8-230. As used in this article:

 (1) "Contraband" means any 
real or personal property, including money, that is owned by, in the possession 
of, or subject to the control of a criminal gang member and which is acquired 
by, derived from, or traceable to criminal gang activity.

 (2) "Criminal gang" means a 
formal or informal ongoing organization, association, or group that consists of 
five or more persons who form for the purpose of committing criminal activity 
and who knowingly and actively participate in a pattern of criminal gang 
activity.

 (3) "Criminal gang member" 
means an individual who is an active member of a criminal gang.

 (4) "Pattern of criminal 
gang activity" means the commission or attempted commission of, commission as 
an accessory before or after the fact to, or solicitation or conspiracy to 
commit, by a criminal gang member, while knowingly and actively participating 
in criminal gang activity, four or more of the following offenses occurring 
within a two-year period, provided that at least three of these offenses 
occurred after July 1, 2007:

 (a) a violent offense as 
defined in Section 16-1-60 committed as a part of criminal gang activity;

 (b) financial 
transaction card crimes as defined in Chapter 14 of Title 16 committed as a 
part of criminal gang activity;

 (c) first degree 
lynching as defined in Section 16-3-210 committed as a part of criminal gang 
activity;

 (d) second degree 
lynching as defined in Section 16-3-220 committed as a part of criminal gang 
activity;

 (e) breaking into a 
motor vehicle as defined in Section 16-13-160 committed as a part of criminal 
gang activity;

 (f) grand larceny as 
defined in Section 16-13-30 com