South Carolina

Sets bail first

Magistrate (summary court judge)

Who that is

A judge

Release on a schedule

No

Time to see a judge

24 hours

Money bail

Allowed

Risk assessment

None statewide

Prosecutor

Solicitor, one per judicial district, elected

Public defense

Statewide public defender

Jails run by

Mixed

Who decides release first

A magistrate, or a municipal judge for city charges, sets bond at a hearing within 24 hours of arrest. Magistrates need not be lawyers. A magistrate can't set bail on a charge punishable by death or life in prison; a circuit judge does.

S.C. Code 22-5-510S.C. Code 17-15-10 and following

Time to see a judge

A person charged with a bailable offense must have a bond hearing within 24 hours of arrest, and the jail must release the person within four hours after the bond is delivered.

S.C. Code 22-5-510(B)

Money bail

Magistrates and judges may set cash or surety bonds. A person charged with a new violent offense while out on bond for one loses the first bond, and any new bond must be paid in full cash.

S.C. Code 17-15-10, 17-15-15, 17-15-55

Population covered

96%

of South Carolina's people lived under an agency that reported to the FBI in 2025.

Agencies on NIBRS

91%

506 of 552 agencies send incident detail. The rest send summary counts or nothing.

Source: FBI Crime Data Explorer, pulled 2026-09-26.

Program

South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), SCIBRS

Incident reporting

SCIBRS (South Carolina Incident-Based Reporting System)

Annual report

Crime in South CarolinaLatest edition: 2024. Editions online 2009 to 2024.

Online portal

South Carolina Crime Statistics, Theme Oriented Public Site (TOPS)Data 1991 to 2024.

What changed

A combined 2014 & 2015 Executive Summary was issued alongside the yearly books.

Links and years checked 2026-09-26.

• SLED Crime BooksState · SC

  South Carolina Law Enforcement Division · Incidents, Arrests · pdf · annual

  State UCR/NIBRS repository; annual Crime in South Carolina books.

• South Carolina court administration caseload reportsState · SC

  South Carolina Court Administration · Courts · pdf, dashboard · monthly

  General Sessions by county and circuit: pending, added, disposed (CRM60), age, disposition type. Annual FY2000-01 on, monthly Jun 2007 on.

Plus 83 national sources, from the FBI, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Census Bureau, the courts, and others.