Ending Without A Conviction
S.C. Code 17-22-100 and S.C. Code 17-22-150 — pretrial intervention, applied for within seventy-five days, and a charge dismissed on completion
Each circuit solicitor runs a pretrial intervention program. An offender applies no later than seventy-five days after the warrant is served, or within ten days after counsel is appointed, unless the solicitor or the judge waives the deadline.
The application fee is $100, and if accepted the participation fee is $250, never more than $350 in all, and either may be waived for indigency. The offender waives a speedy trial, agrees to the program's conditions and to restitution to any victim, and no written admission of guilt is required.
A noncriminal disposition. On completing the program, the solicitor makes a noncriminal disposition of the charge, and the person may ask the court to destroy the official records of the arrest. The order restores the person to the status held before the arrest, and the person is not guilty of perjury for not mentioning the arrest afterward.
A solicitor may also run an alcohol education program for some alcohol-related offenses, ending likewise in a noncriminal disposition, kept on record only so it is not used more than once.
Breaking the program's conditions ends it and the prosecution resumes. Who is eligible is set in sections changed in this year's session, which this page does not restate. A particular case is a question for the solicitor's office or a licensed South Carolina attorney.
Sources for this section (5)
- S.C. Code 17-22-90 — Agreements required of offender in intervention program
- S.C. Code 17-22-100 — Time for application to intervention program
- S.C. Code 17-22-110 — Fees for application and participation; waiver
- S.C. Code 17-22-150 — Disposition of charges against offenders accepted for intervention program
- S.C. Code 17-22-530 — Disposition of alcohol-related offense on completion of program
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed South Carolina attorney.