Current Status Bill Number:4632 Type of Legislation:General Bill GB Introducing Body:House Introduced Date:19980217 Primary Sponsor:Fleming All Sponsors:Fleming, Klauber, R. Smith, Kirsh, Seithel, Simrill, Mason, Hawkins, Moody-Lawrence, Martin, Phillips, Vaughn, Littlejohn, Walker, Davenport, Maddox, Whatley, Gamble and Limehouse Drafted Document Number:bbm\9648cm.98 Residing Body:House Current Committee:Judiciary Committee 25 HJ Subject:Gang Violence Act, Crimes and Offenses, Courts, Minors, Juveniles
Body Date Action Description Com Leg Involved
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House 19980217 Introduced, read first time, 25 HJ
referred to Committee
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TO AMEND CHAPTER 17, TITLE 16, CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO OFFENSES AGAINST PUBLIC POLICY, BY ADDING ARTICLE 9 SO AS TO PROVIDE FOR THE SOUTH CAROLINA GANG VIOLENCE ACT WHICH PROHIBITS CERTAIN CONDUCT IN REGARD TO GANG VIOLENCE AND ACTIVITY AND TO PROVIDE CERTAIN PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS OF THIS PROVISION; AND TO AMEND SECTION 16-9-340, AS AMENDED, RELATING TO THE UNLAWFUL INTIMIDATION OF COURT OFFICIALS, JURORS, AND WITNESSES, SO AS TO INCLUDE GANG MEMBERS WITHIN THE PROHIBITION.
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:
(1) '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, engaged in two or more of the following:
(a) criminal activity which may or may not involve the commission of one or more predicate gang crimes;
(b) having a common name or identifying sign or symbol; or
(c) having members engaged, or having been engaged during the five-year period, in a pattern of criminal gang activity.
(2) 'Criminal gang member' means a person who is a member of a criminal gang as defined in subitem (1) and who meets two or more of the following criteria:
(a) admits to criminal street gang membership;
(b) is identified as a criminal street gang member by a parent or guardian;
(c) is identified as a criminal gang member by a documented reliable informant;
(d) resides in or frequents a particular criminal street gang's area and adopts its style of dress, use of hand signs, or tattoos, and associates with known criminal gang members;
(e) is identified as a criminal gang member by an informant of previously untested reliability, and the identification is corroborated by independent information;
(f) 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;
(g) is identified as a criminal gang member by physical evidence including photographs or other documentation;
(h) has been stopped in the company of known criminal gang members four or more times;
(i) is identified by other law enforcement or correctional agencies in or out of the State of South Carolina; and
(j) is identified by a victim of a predicate gang crime, and the identification is corroborated by independent information.
(3) 'Minor' means a person who is less than seventeen years of age.
(4) '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:
(a) at least one of which was committed on or after the effective date of the South Carolina Gang Violence Act; and
(b) the first of which was committed not more than five years before the commission of another predicate gang crime.
(5) 'Predicate gang crime' means an offense, including an act of juvenile delinquency that would be an offense if committed by an adult, that is a:
(a) violent crime, as defined in Section 16-1-60;
(b) crime that involves the sale, offer for sale, possession for sale or with the intent to distribute, transport, manufacture, or offer to manufacture controlled substances in violation of Sections 44-53-370 through 44-53-470 and 44-53-577;
(c) violation of Chapter 19, Title 16 (Gambling and lotteries);
(d) violation of Article 4, Chapter 9, Title 16 (Offenses against public justice);
(e) 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);
(iv) Article 17, Chapter 3, Title 16 (Harassment and stalking);
(v) Section 16-3-1040 (Threatening a public official);
(vi) Section 16-17-420 (Disturbing schools);
(vii) Section 16-3-612 (Assault and battery against a school official);
(viii) 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;
(xiii) 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 documented through evidence, self admission, information provided by a parent or guardian, a documented reliable informant, or an informant of previously untested reliability who 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.
(g) crime in another jurisdiction involving conduct that would constitute an offense under this item; or
(h) conspiracy, attempt, or solicitation to commit an offense described in this item.
Section 16-17-820. A law enforcement officer may arrest, with or without a warrant, a person if the officer has probable cause to believe that the person is committing or has committed a predicate gang crime.
Section 16-17-830. A person who engages in a pattern of criminal gang activity is guilty of a felony and must be imprisoned:
(1) for a first offense, not less than ten years ant not more than life or fined in the discretion of the court, or both; and
(2) for a second or subsequent offense, not less than twenty years and not more than life or fined in the discretion of the court, or both.
Section 16-7-840. (A) It is unlawful for a 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 or conspire to do so.
(B) A person who violates a provision contained in subsection (A) is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction,
(1) if the person recruited:
(a) is a minor, must be imprisoned 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, must be imprisoned not less than one year and not more than ten years or fined in the discretion of the court, or both; and
(2) if the person recruited is a minor, is 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 16-17-850. 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 must be imprisoned for not less than one year and not more than five years or fined in the discretion of the court, or both, in addition to any other punishment contained in this article.
Section 16-17-860. For purposes of law enforcement identification and tracking only:
(1) 'Criminal gang member' has the same meaning as provided in Section 16-17-810(2).
(2) 'Criminal gang associate' means a person who:
(a) admits to criminal street gang association; or
(b) meets any defining criterion for criminal street gang membership described in Section 16-17-810(2).
(3) 'Gang-related incident' means an incident that, upon investigation, meets any of the following conditions:
(a) 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;
(b) a reliable informant identifies an incident as criminal street gang activity; or
(c) an informant of previously untested reliability identifies an incident as criminal street gang activity and it is corroborated by independent information."
SECTION 2. Section 16-9-340(A) of the 1976 Code, as last amended by Act 184 of 1993, is further amended to read:
"(A) It is unlawful for a person by threat or force, or by presence and appearance if the person is a criminal gang member as defined in Section 16-17-810(2), to:
(1) intimidate or impede a judge, magistrate, juror, witness, or potential juror or witness, arbiter, commissioner, or member of any commission of this State or any other official of any court, in the discharge of his duty as such; or
(2) destroy, impede, or attempt to obstruct or impede the administration of justice in any court."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.