South Carolina

Delinquency and dependency proceedings: Juvenile court hearings generally are closed to the public in South Carolina, and only those people whom the judge deems to have a direct interest in the case or in the work of the court may be admitted. S.C. Code Ann. § 63-3-590. Under the state constitutional provision that “all courts shall be public,” the public and likewise the media have a right of access to court proceedings subject to a balancing of interests with the parties involved. S.C. Const. art. I, § 9. This guarantee of public access does not render unconstitutional the statute mandating exclusion of the general public from cases involving children. However, when challenged by the public or media, the decision of a judge to close any proceeding must be supported by findings that explain the balancing of interests and the need for closure of the proceeding. A conclusory statement that opening the proceeding to the public would adversely affect a juvenile offender’s chances of rehabilitation is not a sufficient finding. Ex parte Columbia Newspapers, Inc., 333 S.E.2d 337, 338 (S.C 1985) (involving access to the transfer hearing of 15-year-old twin brothers charged with the murder of their mother). The state Supreme Court likewise ruled that a family court’s findings were insufficient to justify closing a transfer hearing and denying two newspapers’ requests for access to transcripts of two closed detention hearings in the case of a 15-year-old charged with murdering his father and stepmother. The family court’s findings that publicity would affect the juvenile’s right to a fair trial and make him “anxious,” along with its conclusion that confidential information about the juvenile’s psychiatric status would be revealed in the hearing, did not justify closure of the proceeding because a probability of prejudice from publicity is insubstantial where extensive details about the defendant and the crimes with which he was charged already had been publicly disclosed by the media. Second, a reasonable alternative to closure would be a private hearing in the judge’s chambers during the presentation of confidential testimony. Finally, lessening a defendant’s “anxiety,” even a juvenile’s, does not promote “a higher value than protection of the public’s constitutional right of access.” Notably, the court also ruled that failing to challenge closure of hearings before they are held does not bar consideration of a subsequent request for access to the transcript of the proceeding. Ex parte The Island Packet, 417 S.E.2d 575, 577—78 (S.C. 1992).

Delinquency records: Juvenile court and law enforcement records of delinquency proceedings are confidential and may not be publicly disclosed except to certain individuals designated by statute and those with a court order. The court has the discretion to disclose the records to a person with a legitimate interest and to the extent necessary to respond to that interest. In addition, the name, identity or photograph of a juvenile offender or alleged offender may be provided to a newspaper or radio or television station in the following instances: 1) the court authorized the release; 2) the prosecutor has filed a petition, or the child has been bound over to a court that would have jurisdiction, to try the offense if committed by an adult; and 3) the child has been adjudicated delinquent in court for grand larceny of an automobile, drug distribution or trafficking or an offense involving a violent crime or one in which a weapon was used. S.C. Code Ann. § 63-19-2040. Also, fingerprints and photographs of juvenile offenders and alleged juvenile offenders may be “transmitted” to law enforcement agencies or “another agency or person,” which presumably includes the media, to locate, identify or apprehend, or assist other agencies in their efforts to do so, juveniles who have escaped from the Department of Juvenile Justice or are otherwise missing or in violation of a court order mandating their presence at a particular place. Id. § 63-19-2020.

Dependency records: All papers and records pertaining to a termination of parental rights are confidential, and court records may be unsealed only with a court order for good cause. Id. § 63-7-2600. Likewise, in cases of child abuse or neglect, reports made and information collected and maintained by the state Department of Social Services and the Central Registry of Child Abuse and Neglect are confidential and may not be disclosed except to certain individuals and agencies designated by statute. But the director of the state social services department or the director’s designee may disclose to the media information contained in child protective services records if the disclosure is limited to discussion of the department’s activities in handling a case, including information placed in the public domain by other public officials, proceedings in a criminal prosecution or other public judicial proceeding or the alleged perpetrator or his or her attorney. In this context, information is considered “placed in the public domain” when it has been reported in the news media, is contained in public records of a court or criminal justice agency or has been the subject of testimony in a public judicial proceeding. The director or the designee also is authorized to prepare and release reports of the results of the department’s investigations into the deaths of children in its custody or receiving child welfare services at the time of death. But any disclosed information will not identify a reporter of suspected child abuse or neglect and may not identify any other person named in a record if the department finds that such disclosure would be likely to endanger the life or safety of that person. Id. § 63-7-1990.

Restrictions on coverage: South Carolina law requires trial courts to “treat sensitively” witnesses who are very young, elderly, handicapped or who have special needs by using closed or taped sessions when appropriate. The prosecutor or defense attorney must notify the court when a victim or witness deserves special consideration. Id. § 16-3-1550(E). Before permitting a child witness to testify via closed-circuit television, however, the judge must first make a case-specific determination that use of the procedure is necessary to further the important state interest in protecting a minor child. The judge must find that the child would be traumatized, not by the courtroom generally, but by the presence of the defendant, and should consider the testimony of an expert witness, parents or other relatives, other concerned and relevant parties and the child as the basis for its factual finding of necessity. State v. Bray, 535 S.E.2d 636, 640 (S.C. 2000). A criminal defendant’s right to face her accuser in court was not violated when a trial judge found — based on the child’s testimony and that of a child psychiatrist — that the alleged child sexual abuse victim was fearful of testifying in front of the defendant and would be traumatized and intimidated if required to do so. Starnes v. State, 414 S.E.2d 582, 583—84 (S.C. 1991). Neither the statute nor case law specifies whether the media and public may remain in the courtroom when this testimony is broadcast there.