Current Status Bill Number:1146 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:Senate Introduced Date:19980325 Primary Sponsor:McConnell All Sponsors:McConnell and Giese Drafted Document Number:McConnell\res1512.gfm Residing Body:Senate Current Committee:Judiciary Committee 11 SJ Subject:Gang Violence Act, Crimes and Offenses
Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved
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Senate 19980325 Introduced, read first time, 11 SJ
referred to Committee
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TO AMEND CHAPTER 17, TITLE 16, OF THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY, BY ADDING ARTICLE 9 SO AS TO ENACT THE "SOUTH CAROLINA GANG VIOLENCE ACT" WHICH PROHIBITS CERTAIN CONDUCT IN REGARD TO GANG VIOLENCE AND ACTIVITY AND WHICH PROVIDES CERTAIN PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THESE PROHIBITIONS.
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Chapter 17, Title 16 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding :
Section 16-17-800. This article may be cited as the `South Carolina Gang Violence Act.'
Section 16-17-810. As used in this article:
(A) The phrase `criminal gang' means an ongoing group, club, organization, or association, whether formal or informal, of three or more persons, including persons within adult correctional institutions or juvenile detention facilities or correctional facilities, and in engaging in two or more of the following:
(1) criminal activity which may or may not involve the commission of one or more predicate gang crimes;
(2) having a common name or identifying sign or symbol; or
(3) any members of which engage, or have engaged during the five year period preceding the date in question, in a pattern of criminal gang activity.
(B) The phrase 'criminal gang member' means a person who is a member of a criminal gang as defined in subsection (A) and who meets two or more of the following criteria:
(1) admits to criminal street gang membership;
(2) is identified as a criminal street gang member by a parent or guardian;
(3) is identified as a criminal gang member by a documented reliable informant;
(4) resides in or frequents a particular criminal street gang's area and adopts their style of dress, their use of hand signs, or their tattoos, and associates with known criminal gang members;
(5) is identified as a criminal gang member by an informant of previously untested reliability and such identification is corroborated by independent information;
(6) has been arrested more than once in the company of identified criminal gang members for offenses which are consistent with a pattern of criminal gang activity;
(7) is identified as a criminal gang member by physical evidence such as photographs or other documentation;
(8) has been stopped in the company of known criminal gang members four or more times;
(9) is identified by other law enforcement or correctional agencies in or out of the State of South Carolina; and
(10) is identified by a victim of a predicate gang crime and such identification is corroborated by independent information.
(C) The term 'minor' means a person who is less than seventeen years of age.
(D) The phrase `pattern of criminal street gang activity' means the commission of, or a sustained juvenile petition for, two or more predicate gang crimes committed in connection with, or in furtherance of, the activities of a criminal street gang:
(1) at least one of which was committed on or after the effective date of the South Carolina Gang Violence Act; and
(2) the first of which was committed not more than five years before the commission of another predicate gang crime.
(E) The phrase 'predicate gang crime' means an offense, including an act of juvenile delinquency that would be an offense if committed by an adult, that is:
(1) a South Carolina offense:
(a) that is a violent crime, as defined in Section 16-1-60;
(b) that involves the sale, offer for sale, possession for sale or with the intent to distribute, transportation, manufacture, or offer to manufacture controlled substances in violation of Sections 44-53-370 through 44-53-470, and 44-53-577;
(c) that is a violation of Chapter 19, Title 16 (Gambling and Lotteries);
(d) that is a violation of Article 4, Chapter 9, Title 16 (Offenses Against Public Justice);
(e) that is a violation of:
(i) Section 44-53-475 (Financial transactions and narcotics, money laundering);
(ii) Section 16-3-210 (Lynching, First Degree);
(iii) Section 16-3-220 (Lynching, Second Degree);
(ix) Article 27, Chapter 3, Title 17 (Harassment and Stalking);
(x) Section 16-3-1040 (Threatening a public official);
(xi) Section 16-17-420 (Disturbing schools);
(xii) Section 16-3-612 (Assault and battery against a school official);
(xiii) Section 16-3-625 (Resisting Arrest with a Deadly Weapon;
(ix) Section 16-3-630 (Assault upon a Correctional Facility Employee);
(x) Section 24-13-470 (Throwing or Attempting to Throw Bodily Fluids on a Correctional Employee);
(xi) the common law offense of Aggravated Assault;
(xii) the common law offense of Assault and Battery of a High and Aggravated Nature;
(xii) the common law offense of strong armed robbery;
(xiv) Chapter 23, Title 16 (Offenses Involving Weapons);
(xv) Section 16-13-30(B) (Grand Larceny);
(xvi) Section 16-21-80 (Receiving, possessing, concealing, selling, or disposing of stolen vehicle);
(xvii) Section 16-7-10 (Offenses Committed during State of Emergency declared by the Governor);
(xviii) Section 16-17-640 (Blackmail and Extortion);
(xix) Section 16-11-520 (Malicious injury to real property);
(xx) Section 16-11-530 (Malicious injury to real property);
(xxi) Section 16-3-1075 (Carjacking);
(xxii) Section 16-17-490 (Contributing to the delinquency of a minor); or
(f) any other violation of the South Carolina Code of Laws if it can be documented through evidence, self admission, information provided by a parent or guardian, a documented reliable informant, or an informant of previously untested reliability which is corroborated by independent information, to be committed:
(i) in relation to a criminal gang;
(ii) as the result of a solicitation, request, inducement, counsel or command of an identified criminal gang member; or
(iii) for the purpose of gaining, or initiating a person into, criminal gang membership.
(2) an offense in another jurisdiction involving conduct that would constitute an offense under item (1) if South Carolina jurisdiction existed or had been exercised; or
(3) a conspiracy, attempt, or solicitation to commit an offense described in item (1) or (2).
Section 16-17-820. Any person who engages in a pattern of criminal gang activity is guilty of a felony and shall be sentenced:
(1) for a first offense, to a term of imprisonment of not less than ten years and not more than life or fined in the discretion of the court, or both; and
(2) for a second or subsequent offense, to a term of imprisonment of not less than twenty years and not more than life or fined in the discretion of the court, or both.
Section 16-7-830. (A) It shall be unlawful for any person to:
(1) recruit, solicit, request, induce, counsel, command, or cause another person to be a member of a criminal street gang, or conspire to do so, or cause another to do so; or
(2) recruit, solicit, request, induce, counsel, command, or cause another person to engage in a predicate gang crime for which such person may be prosecuted in a court of the State of South Carolina, or conspire to do so.
(B) A person who violates subsection (A) is guilty of a felony and shall:
(1) if the person recruited:
(a) is a minor, be imprisoned for a term of not less than four years and not more than ten years or fined in the discretion of the court, or both; or
(b) is not a minor, be imprisoned for a term of not less than one year and not more than ten years or fined in the discretion of the court, or both; and
(2) be liable for any costs incurred by the state or any local government for housing, maintaining, and treating the minor until the minor reaches the age of seventeen.
Section 16-17-840. A person who is convicted of a predicate gang crime or any other statutory or common law crime and who is identified as a criminal gang member shall be imprisoned for an additional term of not less than one year and not more than five years or fined in the discretion of the court, or both.
Section 16-17-850. For purposes of law enforcement identification and tracking only:
(A) 'Criminal gang member' has the same meaning as provided in Section 16-17-810(A).
(B) 'Criminal gang associate' means a person who:
(1) admits to criminal street gang association; or
(2) meets any single defining criterion for criminal street gang membership described in Section 16-17-810(B).
(C) 'Gang-related incident' means an incident that, upon investigation, meets any of the following conditions:
(1) the participants are identified as criminal street gang members or criminal street gang associates, acting, individually or collectively, to further any criminal purpose of the gang;
(2) a reliable informant identifies an incident as criminal street gang activity; or
(3) an informant of previously untested reliability identifies an incident as criminal street gang activity and it is corroborated by independent information."
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.