2021 South Carolina Code of Laws
Title 63 - South Carolina Children's Code
Chapter 19 - Juvenile Justice Code
Section 63-19-2050. Petition for expungement of official records.

(A)(1) A person who has been taken into custody for, charged with, or adjudicated delinquent for having committed a status offense or a nonviolent crime, as defined in Section 16-1-70, may petition the court for an order expunging all official records relating to:

(a) being taken into custody;

(b) the charges filed against the person;

(c) the adjudication; and

(d) the disposition.

(2) A person may not petition the court if the person has a prior adjudication for an offense that would carry a maximum term of imprisonment of five years or more if committed by an adult.

(B) A prosecution or law enforcement agency may file an objection to the expungement. If an objection is filed, the expungement must be heard by the court. The prosecution or law enforcement agency's reason for objecting must be that the person has other charges pending or the charges are not eligible for expungement. The prosecution or law enforcement agency shall notify the person of the objection. The notice must be given in writing at the most current address on file with the court, or through the person's counsel of record.

Text of (C) effective July 1, 2019. See Editor's Note for contingency.

(C)(1) If the person has been taken into custody for, charged with, or adjudicated delinquent for having committed a status offense, the court shall grant the expungement order. If the person has been taken into custody for, charged with, or adjudicated delinquent for having committed multiple status offenses, the court may grant an expungement order for the multiple status offenses.

(2) If the person has been taken into custody for, charged with, or adjudicated delinquent for having committed a nonviolent crime, as defined in Section 16-1-70, the court may grant the expungement order. For the purpose of this section, any number of offenses for which the individual received youthful offender sentences at a single sentencing proceeding for offenses that are closely connected and arose out of the same incident may be considered as one offense and treated as one conviction for expungement purposes.

(3) The court shall not grant the expungement order unless the court finds that the person is at least eighteen years of age, has successfully completed any dispositional sentence imposed, has not been subsequently adjudicated for or convicted of any criminal offense, and does not have any criminal charges pending in family court or general sessions court. If the person was found not guilty in an adjudicatory hearing in the family court, the court shall grant the expungement order regardless of the person's age and the person must not be charged a fee for the expungement. An adjudication for a violent crime, as defined in Section 16-1-60, must not be expunged.

(D) If the expungement order is granted by the court, the records must be destroyed or retained by any law enforcement agency or municipal, county, state agency, or department pursuant to the provisions of Section 17-1-40.

(E) The effect of the expungement order is to restore the person in the contemplation of the law to the status the person occupied before being taken into custody. No person to whom the expungement order has been entered may be held thereafter under any provision of law to be guilty of perjury or otherwise giving false statement by reason of failing to recite or acknowledge the charge or adjudication in response to an inquiry made of the person for any purpose.

(F) For purposes of this section, an adjudication is considered a previous adjudication only if the adjudication occurred prior to the date the subsequent offense was committed.

(G) The judge, at the time of adjudication, shall notify the person of the person's ability to have the person's record expunged, the conditions that must be met, as well as the process for receiving an expungement in the particular jurisdiction pursuant to this section.

HISTORY: 2008 Act No. 361, Section 2; 2015 Act No. 22 (S.133), Section 2, eff June 1, 2015; 2016 Act No. 268 (S.916), Section 9, eff July 1, 2019; 2018 Act No. 254 (H.3209), Section 5, eff December 27, 2018.

Editor's Note

2016 Act No. 268, Section 12, provides as follows:

"SECTION 12. Section 10 of this act takes effect upon approval by the Governor. Sections 1 through 9 and Section 11 of this act take effect on July 1, 2019, contingent upon the Department of Juvenile Justice having received any funds that may be necessary for implementation. If the report submitted to the General Assembly on September 1, 2017, reflects any additional funds needed by the Department of Juvenile Justice to ensure implementation will be possible on July 1, 2019, the department shall include these funds in its budget requests to the General Assembly as part of Fiscal Years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019. Beginning on September 1, 2017, all state and local agencies and courts involved with the implementation of the provisions of this act may begin undertaking and executing any and all applicable responsibilities so that the provisions of this act may be fully implemented on July 1, 2019."

Effect of Amendment

2015 Act No. 22, Section 2, rewrote the section.

2016 Act No. 268, Section 9, in (C)(3), substituted "at least eighteen years of age" for "at least seventeen years of age".

2018 Act No. 254, Section 5, in (C)(2), added the second sentence, allowing for expungement of any number of offenses from a single sentencing proceeding for closely connected offenses.