Juvenile Justice

2025-2026 Bill 5118: Juvenile Justice - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 5118
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Cox, Garvin, Holman, T. Moore, Sessions and Wetmore
Document Path: LC-0420VR26.docx
Introduced in the House on February 5, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Judiciary
Summary: Juvenile Justice
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

2/5/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 17
)

2/5/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Judiciary
(
House Journal-page 17
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
02/05/2026

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH
CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING SECTIONS
63-19-360
,
63-19-810
,
63-19-1440
,
AND
63-19-1810
, ALL RELATING TO JUVENILE JUSTICE PROCEEDINGS, SO AS TO REQUIRE
COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENTS AS PART OF JUVENILE EVALUATIONS, TO MAKE CERTAIN CHANGES
PERTAINING TO THE DETENTION OF JUVENILES IN JUVENILE DETENTION FACILITIES AND
THEIR COMMITMENT TO THE CUSTODY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE; AND FOR
OTHER PURPOSES.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
S
ection
63-19-360
(3) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
3) establishing and maintaining
residential and nonresidential reception and evaluation centers at which all
children committed to its custody by a circuit or family court must be
received, examined, and evaluated before assignment to one of its institutions
or before other disposition or recommendation is made concerning the child. The
commitment of a child to a reception and evaluation center or youth
correctional institution of the department may be made only after the child has
been adjudicated delinquent. The evaluation conducted by the reception and
evaluation centers includes, but is not limited to:

(
a)
a complete social, physical, psychological, and mental
examination
a comprehensive, individualized
biopsychosocial assessment to include an examination of the child's social,
physical, and mental health functioning
;

(
b)
an investigation and consideration of family and community environment and
other facts in the background of the person concerned that might relate to the
person's delinquency;

(
c)
a determination of the correctional or custodial care that would be most
appropriate. The department shall create facilities and employ personnel as
will enable the centers to conduct the necessary
physical,
mental, and psychological
examinations
and
assessments
required by this section;

S
ECTION 2.
S
ection
63-19-810
of the S.C. Code is amended by
adding:

(
E) No child or juvenile eighteen
years of age or older will be detained in a juvenile detention facility. Upon
written notice from a juvenile detention facility that a child or juvenile is eighteen
years of age or older, local law enforcement immediately must transport the
person to the county detention center.

S
ECTION 3.
S
ection
63-19-1440
of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

S
ection
63-19-1440
.

(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, may be committed to the custody of the Department of
Juvenile Justice which shall arrange for placement in a suitable corrective
environment. Children under the age of twelve years may be committed only to
the custody of the department which shall arrange for placement in a suitable
corrective environment other than institutional confinement. No child under the
age of eighteen years may be committed or sentenced to any other penal or
correctional institution of this State.

(
B)
All commitments to the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice for
delinquency as opposed to the conviction of a specific crime may be made only
for the reasons and in the manner prescribed in Sections
63-3-510
,
63-3-520
,
63-3-580
,
63-3-600
,
63-3-650
, and this chapter, with evaluations made and
proceedings conducted only by the judges authorized to order commitments in
this section. When a child is committed to the custody of the department
as part of the disposition of the criminal offense
,
commitment must be for an indeterminate sentence, not extending beyond the
twenty-second birthday of the child unless sooner released by the department,
or for a determinate commitment sentence not to exceed ninety days
for misdemeanor offenses or one hundred eighty days for felony
offenses. A child may not be committed to the department for more than one
hundred and eighty days for an adjudication resulting from a probation
violation or contempt of court of an underlying criminal offense
.

(
C)
The court, before committing a child as a delinquent or as a part of a sentence
including commitments for contempt, shall order a community evaluation or
temporarily commit the child to the Department of Juvenile Justice for not more
than forty-five days for evaluation. A community evaluation is equivalent to a
residential evaluation, but it is not required to include all components of a
residential evaluation. However, in either evaluation the department shall make
a recommendation to the court on the appropriate disposition of the case and
shall submit that recommendation to the court before final disposition. The
department is authorized to allow any child adjudicated delinquent for
a status offense,
a misdemeanor offense
,
or violation of probation or contempt for any offense
and
who is temporarily committed to the department's
custody for a residential evaluation, to reside in that child's home or in his
home community while undergoing a community evaluation, unless the committing
judge finds and concludes in the order for evaluation, that a community
evaluation of the child must not be conducted because the child presents an
unreasonable flight or public safety risk to his home community.
The court may
It is within the
court's discretion to
waive in writing the evaluation of the child and
proceed to issue final disposition in the case
if the
child:

(
1) has previously received a
residential evaluation or a community evaluation and the evaluation is
available to the court;

(
2) has been within the past year
temporarily or finally discharged or conditionally released for parole from a
correctional institution of the department, and the child's previous evaluation
or other equivalent information is available to the court; or

(
3)
receives a determinate commitment sentence not to exceed ninety days
.

(
D)
When a juvenile is adjudicated delinquent or convicted of a crime or has
entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in a court authorized to commit to
the custody of the Department of Juvenile Justice, the juvenile may be
committed for an indeterminate period until the juvenile has reached age
twenty-two or until sooner released by the releasing entity or released by
order of a judge of the Supreme Court or the circuit court of this State,
rendered at chambers or otherwise, in a proceeding in the nature of an
application for a writ of habeas corpus. A juvenile who has not been paroled or
otherwise released from the custody of the department by the juvenile's
nineteenth birthday must be transferred to the custody and authority of the
Youthful Offender Division of the Department of Corrections. If not sooner
released by the releasing entity, the juvenile must be released by age
twenty-two according to the provisions of the juvenile's commitment; however,
notwithstanding the above provision, any juvenile committed as an adult
offender by order of the court of general sessions must be considered for
parole or other release according to the laws pertaining to release of adult
offenders.

(
E)
A juvenile committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice following an
adjudication for a violent offense contained in Section
16-1-60
or for the
offense of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature, who has not
been paroled or released from the custody of the department by his eighteenth
birthday must be transferred to the custody and authority of the Youthful
Offender Division of the Department of Corrections. A juvenile who has not been
paroled or released from the custody of the department by his nineteenth
birthday must be transferred to the custody and authority of the Youthful
Offender Division of the Department of Corrections at age nineteen. If not
released sooner by the Board of Juvenile Parole, a juvenile transferred
pursuant to this subsection must be released by his twenty-second birthday
according to the provisions of his commitment. Notwithstanding the above
provision, a juvenile committed as an adult offender by order of the court of
general sessions must be considered for parole or other release according to
the laws pertaining to release of adult offenders.

(
F) Notwithstanding subsections (A)
and (E), a child may be committed to the custody of the Department of Juvenile
Justice or to a secure evaluation center operated by the department for a
determinate period not to exceed ninety days when:

(
1) the child has been adjudicated
delinquent by a family court judge for a status offense, as defined in Section
63-19-20
, excluding truancy, and the order acknowledges that the child has been
afforded all due process rights guaranteed to a child offender;

(
2) the child is in contempt of court
for violation of a court order to attend school or an order issued as a result
of the child's adjudication of delinquency for a status offense, as defined in
Section
63-19-20
; or

(
3) the child is determined by the
court to have violated the conditions of probation set forth by the court in an
order issued as a result of the child's adjudication of delinquency for a
status offense, as defined in Section
63-19-20
including truancy.

Orders issued pursuant
to this subsection must acknowledge:

(
a) that the child has been advised
of all due process rights afforded to a child offender; and

(
b) that the court has received
information from the appropriate state or local agency or public entity that
has reviewed the facts and circumstances causing the child to be before the
court.

(G)
(
F)
A child committed under this section may not be
confined with a child who has been determined by the department to be violent.

(H)
(
G)
After having served at least two-thirds of the time
ordered by a court, a child committed to the Department of Juvenile Justice for
a determinate period pursuant to this section may be released by the department
prior to the expiration of the determinate period for "good behavior" as
determined by the department.
The court, in its
discretion, may state in the order that the child is not to be released prior
to the expiration of the determinate period ordered by the court.

(I)
(
H)
Juveniles detained in any temporary holding facility
or juvenile detention center or who are temporarily committed for evaluation to
a Department of Juvenile Justice evaluation center for the offense for which
they were subsequently committed by the family court to the custody of the
Department of Juvenile Justice shall receive credit toward their parole
guidelines, if indeterminately sentenced, or credit toward their date of
release, if determinately sentenced, for each day they are detained in or temporarily
committed to any secure pre-dispositional facility, center, or program.

S
ECTION 4.
S
ection
63-19-1810
(A) of the S.C. Code is amended to
read:

(
A) The release and revocation of
release of juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed to the department
must be determined by:

(
1)
the department for juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed after March
31, 2007, for an indeterminate period for
a status offense
or a misdemeanor, other than assault and battery of a high and aggravated
nature or assault with intent to kill, and for juveniles who have violated
probation for a status offense or a misdemeanor, other than assault and battery
of a high and aggravated nature or assault with intent to kill
misdemeanors and nonviolent felonies as defined by Section
16-1-70
;

(
2)
the Board of Juvenile Parole for juveniles adjudicated delinquent and committed
for an offense other than an offense provided for in item (1).

S
ECTION 5. This act takes effect upon approval
by the Governor.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on February 5, 2026 at 11:28 AM