Rep. Nancy Mace co-files bill to define and criminalize child-luring in South Carolina
Representatives Nancy Mace and Lee Hewitt refiled a bill on Tuesday, Dec. 18 to outlaw child-luring. This comes after several recorded incidents in Mount Pleasant and Charleston that involved alleged attempts from strangers to coax children into cars.
The bill that she and Hewitt are attempting to pass provides law enforcement with a more concrete violation to place on potential offenders. The bill seeks to criminalize any attempt by a party 18 years old or over to lure or entice someone younger than 18 years of age into a conveyance (any motor vehicle), dwelling, or structure.
The first offense is considered a misdemeanor, with up to one year imprisonment possible or a fine of $500. The second offense can lead to up to three years in prison and a fine of $1,000.
If the child is under the age of 13, the penalties are considered felonies. The first offense will lead to a charge of $5,000 or five years in prison, while the second offense will land a guilty party in prison for 10 years or fine them $10,000.
“Law enforcement, from what we’ve learned, doesn’t have the tools necessary to bring someone in for questioning or arrest them when they attempt to lure a child,” said Mace. “So, what we’re trying to do is model this legislation after other states who do a better job, and specifically that would be Florida and Pennsylvania.”
Although kidnapping and various forms of sexual abuse are explicitly mentioned in the South Carolina Code of Laws, child-luring is not.
“The current state kidnapping statute allows for law enforcement to make a charge of ‘attempted kidnapping,’ however it does not address the act of luring a child in the detail the proposed anti-luring law would provide,” Mount Pleasant Police Chief Carl Ritchie said in a provided press release.
“As a mother, it is mind blowing to me that the state of South Carolina hasn’t given law enforcement the tools necessary to arrest individuals who would attempt to lure a child away,” Mace stated in the same press release.
Mount Pleasant resident Katie Shields, who reached out to Mace as a concerned citizen, said that she supports the legislation because “our children need to be protected by all measures possible.”
“I think people need to be vigilant,” Shields added. “One problem that I see in public places, especially, is that people are too comfortable letting their children roam and go out of their sights. And you can never be too safe when it comes to your child.”
The bill was filed once before, but according to Mace it was filed too late in the last House session, and no major changes have been made to it since. The bill will be reviewed on Jan. 8 when South Carolina State House sessions begin in the new year.