Expanding Pretrial Intervention Eligibility (H. 4720)

Pretrial intervention (PTI) programs allow people charged with first-time, non-violent crimes to avoid a criminal conviction and make restitution to their victims and their community without spending time in prison. These programs can provide rehabilitation while relieving overcrowding in the prison system.

Currently in South Carolina, a person cannot be considered for pretrial intervention if they have ever been accepted into a PTI program in their life. This bill would allow a person to participate in a PTI program more than once if it has been at least 20 years since they last completed a PTI program.

We support this bill because: South Carolina incarcerates a greater share of its population than most countries, and we need to find paths to rehabilitation outside of our broken and inhumane prison system. Expanding access to pretrial intervention is one positive change we can make.