South Carolina S 16: Status Offenders

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 16 Text of Previous Version (Dec. 11, 2024) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 16

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 AMENDING 
SECTION 63-19-820, RELATING TO OUT-OF-HOME PLACEMENT, SO AS TO ELIMINATE THE 
EXCEPTION FOR CHILDREN TO BE TRIED AS AN ADULT AND TO DECREASE THE LENGTH OF 
TIME THAT A CHILD MAY BE HELD IN A JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITY FOR COMMITTING A 
STATUS OFFENSE OR FOR VIOLATING A RELATED COURT ORDER; BY AMENDING SECTION 
63-19-1020, RELATING TO INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS, SO AS TO REQUIRE THAT THE 
CHILD AND HIS FAMILY SEEK COUNSELING WHEN THE STATUS OFFENSE IS OF 
INCORRIGIBILITY; BY AMENDING SECTION 63-19-1440, RELATING TO COMMITMENT, SO AS 
TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN STATUS AND CRIMINAL OFFENSES AND CHANGE THE REQUIREMENTS 
FOR COURT ORDERS; BY AMENDING SECTION 63-19-1810, RELATING TO DETERMINATION OF 
RELEASE, SO AS TO MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES; AND BY AMENDING SECTION 63-19-2050, 
RELATING TO PETITION FOR EXPUNGEMENT OF OFFICIAL RECORDS, SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR 
THE AUTOMATIC EXPUNGEMENT OF OFFICIAL RECORDS FOR STATUS OFFENSES WITH 
EXCEPTIONS AND MAKE CONFORMING CHANGES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 63-19-820(C) and (E) of the S.C. Code is amended 
to read:

 (C) No A child may must not be placed in secure confinement or ordered 
detained by the court in secure confinement in an adult jail or other place of 
detention for adults for more than six hours. However, the 
prohibition against the secure confinement of juveniles in adult jails does not 
apply to juveniles who have been waived to the court of general sessions for 
the purpose of standing trial as an adult. Juveniles A juvenile placed in secure confinement in an adult jail 
during this six-hour period must be confined in an area of the jail which is 
separated by sight and sound from adults similarly confined.

 (E) A child who is taken into custody 
because of a violation of law which would not be a criminal offense under the 
laws of this State if committed by an adult must not be placed or ordered 
detained in an adult detention facility. A child who is taken into custody 
because of a violation of the law which would not be a criminal offense under 
the laws of this State if committed by an adult must not be placed or ordered 
detained more than twenty-four hours in a juvenile 
detention facility, unless an order previously has been issued by the court, of 
which the child has notice and which notifies the child that further violation 
of the court's order may result in the secure detention of that child in a 
juvenile detention facility. If a juvenile is ordered detained for violating a 
valid court order, the juvenile may be held in secure confinement in a juvenile 
detention facility for not more than seventy-two forty-eight hours, excluding weekends and holidays. 
However, nothing in this section precludes a law enforcement officer from 
taking a status offender into custody.

SECTION 2. Section 63-19-1020 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
63-19-1020. (A)The parent or custodian of a child, an official of a 
child welfare board, a public official charged by law with the care of the 
poor, the recognized agents of an agency, association, society, or institution, 
a person having knowledge or information of a nature which convinces the person 
that a child is delinquent or that a child, by reason of his own acts in 
accordance with this chapter, is subject to the jurisdiction of the court, any 
person who has suffered injury through the delinquency of a child, or an 
officer having an arrested child in charge, may institute a proceeding 
respecting the child.

 (B) Before the department may accept 
a referral for the status offense of incorrigibility or before a petition for 
the offense of incorrigibility may be filed, the person or entity seeking to 
institute the proceeding first shall provide documentation indicating that the 
parent or custodian and the child have made reasonable efforts to resolve the 
challenges confronting the family through participation in family counseling, 
pastoral counseling, parenting improvement classes, or other family therapy 
services. If no prior assistance has been sought, then the department shall 
refer the parent or custodian to service providers in the family's community or 
provide services itself to assist the family.

SECTION 3. Section 63-19-1440(A), (C), and (F) of the S.C. Code is 
amended to read:

 (A) A child, after the child's 
twelfth birthday and before the eighteenth birthday or while under the 
jurisdiction of the family court for disposition of an a criminal offense that occurred prior to the child's 
eighteenth birthday, or for conduct that is a violation of pr