South Carolina Expungement

 

What does expungement mean in South Carolina? Expungement is the legal process by which an individual’s criminal history may be removed from his or her records under certain circumstances. This can be important to individuals who have made a mistake and are simply trying to provide for themselves and their families, because having a criminal record can make a lot of things that we take for granted in life rather difficult.

 

The reason for this is that it is common practice for people and agencies such as landlords, credit card companies, banks, and potential employers to look into your history with a background check. The first thing they are likely to see when they do this is your criminal record, detailing arrests and charges against you. It should be no surprise that public agencies like the ones mentioned above consider criminals to be a higher risk than the rest of society, so their chances of turning you down or moving on to the next person are fairly high. But how are you supposed to function in life if you can’t get a job, a place to live, or even a credit card?

 

Expungement can make these problems go away by making your criminal history inaccessible to anyone in the public. The next time you run across a question on a job application asking if you have committed a crime, you can confidently and legally say no.

 

What kind of records does South Carolina expunge?

 

South Carolina Code of Laws 17-1-40 details the kinds of documentation that expungement covers, including:

 

• Booking records
• Arrest records
• Mug shots
• Files
• Fingerprints

 

These types of files will be destroyed from any repository maintained by any county, state, or municipal law enforcement agencies. Of course, this will only occur if the individual qualifies to have his or her records expunged.

 

Who qualifies for record expungement in South Carolina?

 

Those who qualify for expungement in the state fall under one of several categories:

 

Non-violent first-time criminal offenders. People in this category are allowed to complete a diversion program called Pretrial Intervention. In this program, they will be required to give monetary restitution to the victims of their crime, as well as perform restitution to the community. Under the South Carolina Code of Law 17-22-150, people who complete this Intervention program can apply to have any of their records related to the arrest be destroyed. They will also then be legally able to say that they have never committed a crime.

 

First-time offenders of check fraud. If someone has committed check fraud, it is possible that the charge might qualify for expungement a year after the assigned conviction. However, this offense may not be expunged if, after one year, other convictions for this individual exist, or if the value of the fraudulent check exceeded $5,000. An individual may only be granted expungement for this type of offense once.

 

First-time misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The first time someone is charged with simple marijuana possession, it is considered a misdemeanor. South Carolina Code of Law 44-53-45 says that these types of offenses may be cleared from an individual’s record so long as all required sentencing has been completed. Once this happens, the type of documentation that may be expunged includes not only arrest records, but also information associated with the indictment, trial, dismissal, verdict, and discharge of the individual.

 

Those convicted in municipal court. If someone is convicted in a municipal or magistrate’s court, they are allowed to apply to have the record expunged 3 years after the date they were convicted, provided that they have not been convicted of any new crime during this 3-year period. An expungement of this sort is only allowed once in a person’s lifetime. Also, there are exceptions to these expungement allowances. Offenses involving operating a motor vehicle, Title 50 violations, and criminal domestic violence offenses covered under Chapter 25 and Title 16 may not be expunged.