Institute for Justice
South Carolina
March 2010
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Scott G. Bullock
President and General Counsel
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State Law Evasion Grade | Final Grade |
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South Carolina
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Forfeiture Law |
| South Carolina has dreadful civil forfeiture laws. The government can forfeit property by demonstrating mere probable cause that the property is related to a crime and subject to forfeiture. This is the lowest standard, the same one required for a search warrant, and far lower than the beyond a reasonable doubt standard required for a criminal conviction. South Carolina law also considers property owners to be guilty until proven innocent, placing the burden on owners to prove they had no connection to an underlying crime to get their property back. And law enforcement keeps 95 percent of the proceeds—75 percent goes directly to the law enforcement agency and 20 percent to prosecutors. The remaining five percent goes to the state’s general fund. Law enforcement and prosecutors are required to use the money to fight drug offenses. Moreover, there is no requirement that the state collect data on forfeitures, so citizens do not know how the state’s powerful civil forfeitures laws are being used. |
| Forfeitures as Reported to LEMAS (Drug-related only) |
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| Equitable Sharing Proceeds from the Assets Forfeiture Fund (AFF) |
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| Freedom of Information Data |
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No Data Available; Not Required to Collect
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