South Carolina requires fingerprints for some children in police custody

Police must fingerprint children they take into custody for charges carrying a maximum adult prison sentence of at least five years. Children's fingerprints must go to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division and be kept separate from adults' fingerprints. Police may photograph a child charged with any offense. Police may ask a court to allow fingerprinting for another charge or when they have probable cause, meaning reasonable grounds to suspect the child committed an offense. The state agency responsible for juvenile custody must also fingerprint and photograph children admitted to its secure facilities. Detention facilities collect these records when children enter secure detention. The law took effect on May 18, 2026.

State and arresting police agencies must destroy children's fingerprints and records created from them upon notice that the required court finding is absent. Children's fingerprints and records created from them cannot be disclosed for a purpose that law or a court order does not specifically allow. For fingerprints collected under the police rules, the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division may send them to the FBI only after a court finds the child committed an offense carrying a maximum adult sentence of at least five years. After that finding, agencies must provide fingerprints to another police agency on request for criminal justice work or help finding or identifying a missing or runaway child. Police photographs may be shared only for criminal justice work or help finding or identifying a missing or runaway child. The juvenile custody agency's confidential fingerprints and photographs may be shared to find escapees, missing or runaway children, children who miss court, or children under house arrest, or as otherwise allowed by this section. Destruction is required upon notice that the child was not found to have committed an offense carrying a maximum adult prison sentence of at least five years.

Police must give principals certain incident reports, and the state agency responsible for juvenile custody must report certain final case outcomes. Police reports go to the principal where the child is enrolled. Final case notices go to the principal where the child attends, plans to attend, or last attended. Both duties cover specified violent crimes, crimes involving weapons, and unlawful drug distribution or trafficking. They also cover assaults against school employees or volunteers and serious assaults at school or school events against people serving the school in an official role. Police must also report charges carrying a maximum adult prison sentence of at least fifteen years. They must provide reports about other offenses if the principal requests them. Schools must keep the information confidential and limit staff access to what is needed for the child's education. Incident reports must follow the child's permanent school records when the child transfers. Police reports are required once the child is charged; agency notices follow the final case outcome. Schools must destroy the child's offense history upon completion of secondary school or reaching age twenty-one.