AUGUST 2024 - VICTORY UPDATE!!!

All 17K+ of us share this victory! When citizens come together for the good of all, our voices can and will be heard. It may have taken 5 years, but at the end of the day lawmakers work for us. Special thanks to SC Representative Lee Hewitt and US Representative Nancy Mace for never giving up on this bill.

We also recognize Attorney General Alan Wilson and Deputy General Matt Gates for bringing this to the finish line, along with their amazing staff. We especially want to honor the late Andy Fiffick for his role in getting this bipartisan legislation signed. May his memory be a blessing to his family.

Additionally, thank you to all of the news stations and media who provided consistent coverage on this story, especially Melissa Rademaker from Live 5. 

 

Pictured left to right: SC Representative Lee Hewitt, Attorney General Alan Wilson, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, US Representative Nancy Mace, First Lady Peggy McMaster, Governor Henry McMaster, Bill Advocates Katie Shields, Brittany Williams, & Connie Williams, SC Senator Katrina Shealy, SC Representative Gary Brewer, and SC Representative Robby Robbins.

Last Thursday, Governor Henry McMaster signed a bill into law creating the crime of child luring and various safeguards & justice for victims of human trafficking and domestic violence. s. 142 is a victory for all South Carolinians and covers several crimes (excerpt from Live 5 & WSAV:

• The criminal offense of child luring applies to adults who persuade or attempt to lure a children with the intent to harm them. This carries a felony penalty of up to $10,000, a sentence of up to 10 years in prison, or both, according to the South Carolina Office of the Governor’s press release (https://governor.sc.gov/news/2024-08/gov-henry-mcmaster-ceremonially-signs-human-trafficking-victim-protection-bill-law 
• The act also expands the definition of sex trafficking to include the sexual exploitation of minors with the bill adding that a person under the age of 18 who is a victim of human trafficking may not be prosecuted for prostitution or any other non-violent misdemeanor or class F felony.
• It will also allow for victims of human trafficking to motion the court to expunge a non-violent offense stemming from trafficking if they were forced to commit the crime by their captor.
• Additionally, the bill establishes an address confidentiality program through the Attorney General’s Office that allows domestic violence victims and others to use a designated address to conceal their place of residence from their abusers.
• The bill also addresses issues relating to kidnapping and murder offenses, which had an existing code that impeded independent sentencing for kidnapping if the individual was already sentenced for murder. The change makes it to where if a murder conviction is overturned, the individual can still face punishment for a separate kidnapping offense.
  

 

JUNE - URGENT CALL TO ACTION: 

• UPDATE 6/11/23: Please THANK Attorney General Alan Wilson, and Deputy Attorney General Matt Gates, for making a strong statement of support to properly define and add luring to S.142.
• Email your SC House Representative and Senate Representative mentioning bullet points below. Locate your legislator by your address here. Legislator email addresses found here.
• Respectfully express support of Child Luring Law Bill being added to S.142. The conference committee must clearly define luring unrelated to kidnapping.
• The argument that law enforcement can interpret a kidnapping statute with ambiguous language and wording using the word "inveigle," which means to "win over" or "flatter". Luring is NOT FLATTERY. We need easy to interpret language specifically stating "Child Luring" so law enforcement can process and arrest predators when appropriate. Even if kidnapping is not the intent, luring can have other nefarious intent.

Background: A Child Luring Law Bill has been presented & refiled numerous times over 5+ years.  

House of Representatives: Child Luring Law Bill unanimously passed with ALL 124 House Members voting in favor on 1/30/2024.

South Carolina Senate: Bill moved from House to Senate & sat for months with no action or reading until the end of legislative session. Bill disappeared from schedule and reading on last day of session.

End of Legislative Season / Conference: The Bill now sits in conference and will hopefully get passed by June 18th.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JANUARY UPDATE

17K signatures and five+ years of advocacy, your voices have been heard. On very short notice, legislators have decided to hear two separate Child Luring Law Bills tomorrow Tues, Jan 9th. Please send any comments to the email linked in this notice above. Login to watch virtually at 11am via this link. 

Representative Lee Hewitt has worked tirelessly to refile this bill multiple times over the past 5+ years. Representative Hewitt's most recent version is Bill 3015. After years of stating that the current kidnapping statutes were "sufficient", Representative Chris Murphy recently changed his tune and presented Bill 4633 as an amendment to current kidnapping statutes. 

Our priority is ensuring that the most stringent penalties are in place to punish and deter predators. We will provide additional updates after tomorrow.

ORIGINAL PETITION

South Carolina is one of the only states without a Child Luring Law. We implore Representative Newton & Judiciary Committee to pass Bill 3015 and Governor McMaster to sign this bill into law without further delay.

In South Carolina, a predator can attempt to lure a child into their vehicle, structure, etc and law enforcement cannot press charges or process the individual. Passage of Bill 3015 Child Luring Law allows law enforcement, and parents/caregivers, to pursue legal action if someone attempts to lure a child into a vehicle or structure.

On Saturday, Sept 16th, there were two police reports filed when a man, who is a resident of Georgia, tried to separately lure two different children into his vehicle to depart Pitt Street Bridge and go fishing on another island. The man later, allegedly, was seen around Page's Thieves Market attempting to lure children at 6:30pm.

If we had a Child Luring Law in place, he would have been in jail and this would likely go on his record.

There is a history of people crossing into SC from other states because they understand this loophole. Documented reports of individuals luring children with a puppy, a bucket of gum from a U-haul van, etc and law enforcement has historically been unable to file charges because of this gap in our laws. 

A bill to protect children was originally discussed in 2017 & subsequently introduced in 2018 by then Rep Nancy Mace and current Rep Lee Hewitt. Versions of this bill have been revised, pushed through to committee, then never passed. WHY THE DELAY of over 5 years. This is a nonpartisan issue and common sense legislation!

Law enforcement, and parents or caregivers, should be given the tools necessary to press charges against predators, ensure the behavior is documented, and process accordingly.