South Carolina § 23-3-470 - Failure to register or provide required notifications; penalties.

§ 23-3-470. Failure to register or provide required notifications; penalties.

(A) It is the duty of the offender to contact the sheriff in order to register, provide notification of change of permanent or temporary address, or notification of change of employment, or in attendance, enrollment, employment, volunteer status, intern status, or vocation status at any public or private school, including, but not limited to, a kindergarten, elementary school, middle school or junior high, high school, secondary school, adult education school, college or university, and any vocational, technical, or occupational school. If an offender fails to register, provide notification of change of address, or notification of permanent or temporary change in employment, or attendance, enrollment, employment, volunteer status, intern status, or vocation status at any public or private school, as required by this article, he must be punished as provided in subsection (B).

(B)(1) A person convicted for a first offense is guilty of a misdemeanor and may be fined not more than one thousand dollars, or imprisoned for not more than three hundred sixty-six days, or both. Notwithstanding the provisions of Sections 22-3-540, 22-3-545, 22-3-550, or any other provision of law, a first offense may be tried in magistrates court.

(2) A person convicted for a second offense is guilty of a misdemeanor and must be imprisoned for a mandatory period of three hundred sixty-six days, no part of which shall be suspended nor probation granted.

(3) A person convicted for a third or subsequent offense is guilty of a felony and must be imprisoned for a mandatory period of five years, three years of which shall not be suspended nor probation granted.

HISTORY: 1994 Act No. 497, Part II, SECTION 112A; 1996 Act No. 444, SECTION 16; 1998 Act No. 384, SECTION 1; 2005 Act No. 141, SECTION 6; 2008 Act No. 333, SECTION 2, eff June 16, 2009; 2010 Act No. 212, SECTION 6, eff June 7, 2010.

Editor's Note

2008 Act No. 333, SECTION 4, provides as follows:

"This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and ninety days after the State Law Enforcement Division has certified that sex offender mapping software has been implemented."

2009 Act No. 77, SECTION 2, provides as follows:

"SECTION 2 of Act 333 of 2008 shall take effect upon approval of this act by the Governor. All other sections of Act 333 of 2008 shall take effect as provided in SECTION 4 of Act 333 of 2008."

Effect of Amendment

The 2008 amendment, in paragraph (B)(1), substituted "may be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days, or both" for "must be imprisoned for a mandatory period of ninety days, no part of which shall be suspended nor probation granted".

The 2010 amendment rewrote this section.