Bill 4126

                    Current Status

Bill Number:               4126
Ratification Number:       714
Act Number                 615
Introducing Body:          House
Subject:                   Fines of children as condition of
                           probation

(A615, R714, H4126)

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 20-7-1330, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO JURISDICTION OF THE FAMILY COURT, SO AS TO PROVIDE THAT AS A CONDITION OF PROBATION IT MAY FINE A CHILD IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS WHEN THE OFFENSE IS ONE IN WHICH A MAGISTRATE, MUNICIPAL, OR CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE MAY IMPOSE A FINE WHEN COMMITMENT IS SUSPENDED, BUT NOT IN ADDITION TO COMMITMENT.

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

Fines of children as condition of probation

SECTION 1. Section 20-7-1330 of the 1976 Code is amended to read:

"Section 20-7-1330. When a child is found by decree of the court to come within the provisions of Section 20-7-400, the court shall in its decree make a finding of the facts upon which the court exercises its jurisdiction over the child. Following the decree, the court may, by order:

(a) place the child on probation or under supervision in his own home or in the custody of a suitable person elsewhere, upon conditions as the court may determine. A child placed on probation by the court remains under the authority of the court only until the expiration of the specified term of his probation. This specified term of probation may expire before but not after the eighteenth birthday of the child. Probation means casework services during a continuance of the case. Probation must not be ordered or administered as punishment, but as a measure for the protection, guidance, and well-being of the child and his family. Probation methods must be directed to the discovery and correction of the basic causes of maladjustment and to the development of the child's personality and character, with the aid of the social resources of the community. The court may impose restitution or participation in supervised work or community service as a condition of probation. The Department of Youth Services, in coordination with local community agencies, shall develop and encourage employment of a constructive nature designed to make reparation and to promote the rehabilitation of the child. If the court imposes as a condition of probation a requirement that restitution in a specified amount be paid, the amount to be paid as restitution may not exceed five hundred dollars. The Department of Youth Services shall develop a system for the transferring of a court ordered restitution from the juvenile to the victim or owner of property injured, destroyed, or stolen;

(b) as a condition of probation impose upon the juvenile a fine not exceeding two hundred dollars when the offense is one in which a magistrate, municipal, or circuit court judge has the authority to impose a fine. A fine may be imposed when commitment is suspended but not in addition to commitment;

(c) commit the child to the custody or to the guardianship of a public or private institution or agency authorized to care for children or to place them in family homes or under the guardianship of a suitable person. Commitment must be for an indeterminate period but in no event beyond the child's twenty-first birthday;

(d) cause a child concerning whom a petition has been filed to be examined or treated by a physician, psychiatrist, or psychologist and for that purpose place the child in a hospital or other suitable facility;

(e) order other care and treatment as it considers best, except as otherwise provided in this section. In support of an order, the court may require the parents or other persons having custody of the child, or any other person who has been found by the court to be encouraging, causing, or contributing to the acts or conditions which bring the child within the purview of this chapter, to do or omit to do acts required or forbidden by law, when the judge considers the requirement necessary for the welfare of the child. In case of failure to comply with the requirement, the court may proceed against those persons for contempt of court;

(f) dismiss the petition or otherwise terminate its jurisdiction at any time, on the motion of either party or on its own motion.

No adjudication by the court of the status of a child is a conviction, nor does the adjudication operate to impose civil disabilities ordinarily resulting from conviction, nor may a child be charged with crime or convicted in a court, except as provided in Section 20-7-430(6). The disposition made of a child, or any evidence given in court, does not disqualify the child in a future civil service application or appointment.

Whenever the court commits a child to an institution or agency, it shall transmit with the order of commitment a summary of its information concerning the child, and the institution or agency shall give to the court information concerning the child which the court may require. Counsel of record, if any, must be notified by the court of an adjudication under this section, and in the event there is no counsel of record, the child, its parents, or guardian must be notified of the adjudication by regular mail from the court to the last address of the child, its parents, or guardian."

Time effective

SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.