Post and Courier: Thousands of arrest warrants for low-level offenders recalled under directive from South Carolina’s chief justice

Post and Courier: Thousands of arrest warrants for low-level offenders recalled under directive from South Carolina’s chief justice by Andrew Knapp:

Tens of thousands of South Carolinians wanted for arrest for skipping court dates or blowing off fines might be breathing a sigh of relief as judges have stopped jailing some of these low-level offenders under instructions from the state’s chief justice…. Issues with South Carolina’s summary courts were brought to light in the past year, largely through studies by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union. They said many of the state’s lowest courts were routinely failing to inform defendants of their Sixth Amendment right to a lawyer and a public defender, a requirement when jail time is a possible punishment. The ACLU followed up with lawsuits against Lexington County, Beaufort and Bluffton, where they said court systems breed “modern-day debtors’ prisons.”

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