COLUMBIA, S.C. — South Carolina is one of just two states that have not adopted a hate crimes act, but one state Representative is hoping to change that.
Representative Wendell Gilliard (D-Charleston County) has introduced hate crimes legislation twice before. Both times it failed to gain any traction, but that hasn’t discouraged Gilliard.
He has vowed to reintroduce the Clementa C. Pickney Hate Crimes Act this fall, which he said would enhance the penalties for defendants who target their victims based on race, color, sex, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, among other factors.
Gilliard said his legislation would also help to move cases forward.
“It would give us the opportunity now to expedite these cases as they happen, because traditionally the federal government have a, what we would call a backlog, of hate crime incidents. And we can not wait any longer,” Gilliard said.
If found guilty under the proposed legislation, a suspect would receive additional fines of up to $10,000 and up to five years of additional prison time per offense.
According to the Justice Department, there were 68 hate crime incidents reported in South Carolina in 2022, the last year for which data was available. That number was trending down from both 2020 and 2021.