(A) A payment of benefits to, or on behalf of, a victim or intervenor, or eligible family member under this article creates a debt due and owing to the State by a person as determined by a court of competent jurisdiction of this State, who has committed the criminal act.

(B) The circuit court, when placing on probation a person who owes a debt to the State as a consequence of a criminal act, may set as a condition of probation the payment of the debt or a portion of the debt to the State. The court also may set the schedule or amounts of payments subject to modification based on change of circumstances.

(C) The Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services shall also have the right to make payment of the debt or a portion of the debt to the State a condition of parole or community supervision.

(D) When a juvenile is adjudicated delinquent in a Family Court proceeding involving a crime upon which a claim under this article can be made, the family court, in its discretion, may order that the juvenile pay the debt to the Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, Department of Crime Victim Compensation, as created by this article, as an adult would have to pay had an adult committed the crime. Any assessments ordered may be made a condition of probation as provided in Section 63-19-1410.

(E) Payments authorized or required under this section must be paid to the Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division. The Director of the Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, together with the Deputy Director of the Department of Crime Victim Compensation, shall coordinate the development of policies and procedures for the South Carolina Department of Corrections, the Department of Juvenile Justice, the South Carolina Office of Court Administration, the Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, and the South Carolina Board of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services to assure that victim restitution programs are administered in an effective manner to increase payments into the fund.

(F) Restitution payments to the Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, Department of Crime Victim Compensation, Victim Compensation Fund may be made by the Department of Corrections from wages accumulated by offenders in its custody who are subject to this article, except that offenders' wages must not be used for this purpose if monthly wages are at or below minimums required to purchase basic necessities.

HISTORY: 1982 Act No. 455, Section 2; 1984 Act No. 489, Section 1; 1995 Act No. 83, Section 13; 2017 Act No. 96 (S.289), Section 5.K, eff July 1, 2017.

Effect of Amendment

2017 Act No. 96, Pt. II, Section 5.K, redesignated the paragraph identifiers; in (D), substituted "Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, Department of Crime Victim Compensation" for "State Office of Victim Assistance"; in (E), substituted "Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division" for "State Office of Victim Assistance", "Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, together with the Deputy Director of the Department of Crime Victim Compensation," for "State Office of Victim Assistance", and "fund" for "State Office of Victim Assistance"; in (F), substituted "Office of the Attorney General, South Carolina Crime Victim Services Division, Department of Crime Victim Compensation, Victim Compensation Fund" for "State Office of Victim Assistance"; and made nonsubstantive changes throughout.