News & Commentary

    

We have called on schools and elected leaders to end arrests for minor misbehavior and fix South Carolina’s outdated and unfair “disturbing schools” law, which can lead to children arrested for being “obnoxious.”

In a situation where a police officer uses deadly force against an unarmed citizen, the public has a legitimate interest in knowing what took place and how the police officers behaved.

Research show that incarcerating children - even for very short periods of time - increases the likelihood they will have further involvement in the juvenile justice and adult prison system.

Our state is hazardous to women's health. An extreme or alarmist statement? Not really.

"We absolutely can’t keep kicking the can down the road,” Rutherford said. He said he hopes the bill will be amended on the House floor to more match the Senate version.

Equipping officers with body-worn cameras has the support from top politicians, including Gov. Nikki Haley, and state police and legal groups, including the S.C. Law Enforcement Officers' Association, S.C. Sheriffs’ Association and S.C. Bar.

Attempting to restore trust in law enforcement after the fatal shooting of Walter Scott by a North Charleston police officer, a state Senate panel on Thursday affirmed the right to record police activity in public and called for independent investigations of police shootings.

At about 9:30 a.m., North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, who is white, pulled Scott over near the auto store for allegedly driving with a broken tail light. Within minutes, a routine traffic stop had escalated into a pursuit.