Chesterfield weighs a countywide curfew after a year of juvenile violence

Data from the State Law Enforcement Division show a steady uptick in youth arrests after a decade of slow, but steady falloff.
Compared to 10 and, especially, to 20 years ago, the number of juvenile arrests in South Carolina is way down. There were a little more than 20,000 juvenile arrests statewide in 2005, just over 11,100 in 2015, and just shy of 8,900 in 2023, the last year for which SLED data are available.
Nevertheless, the latest trend is a slow, but steady rise in juvenile arrests since 2020, the year with the fewest juvenile arrests on record since 1991 -- 5,243.
In Chesterfield County, there were 57 arrests of minors in 2023. That’s six more than where they were in 2019, but almost twice what they were in 2022.
Violent crime arrests have remained in single digits in Chesterfield County, factoring in all SLED data reported by the county Sheriff’s Office, the South Carolina Highway Patrol, and the municipal police departments of Chesterfield, Pageland, Cheraw, and Jefferson.
But remember, SLED data only go up to 2023. In the past two years, Chesterfield County, particularly Pageland, has been haunted by violent crimes committed by minors and against minors.
“Our biggest problem in law enforcement is crimes committed by juveniles,” says Sheriff’s Deputy Lt. David Lee, who oversees the school resource officers in Chesterfield County’s public schools. “If you've been around here for the last little bit and read the news, we've got a lot of shootings. Shooting of houses, other human beings -- and some of them being juveniles. There are some major crimes being committed.”
Chesterfield County minors have had a violent 2025, which has included a 13-year-old being injured by a shooting while inside a home in September, the shooting death of a 17-year-old that canceled Pageland’s Watermelon Festival in July, and the killing of a 9-year-old in a shootout at a convenience store in September.
All of those incidents involved minors getting charged as shooters or accessories.
They also all happened in a city with an existing juvenile curfew law, Pageland. The city bans unsupervised persons age 16 or younger from loitering or being out on public streets between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Other towns in Chesterfield County, including Chesterfield and Cheraw, have versions of a curfew as well, but time frames vary, as do punishments for juveniles and their parents or guardians.
At its next meeting on Wednesday, the Chesterfield County Council is expected to pass a countywide curfew of 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. for any unsupervised person younger than 18. The council has spent months working in partnership with the Chesterfield County School District and the county’s various police agencies to craft a bill that officials say is meant to be about keeping kids safe by keeping them off the streets.
It has yet to be shown, however, that curfews work to stop crime among minors. In fact, several studies, as reported by The Marshall project, show that curfews could actually make things worse, in part by inviting more hidden crimes on less populated streets.
But Chesterfield County officials aren’t really expecting a curfew to fix its underage crime problem, per se. Officials instead want something that gives police officers more teeth to hold parents accountable, says Dr. Omoro King, the school district’s chief of student services.
“ We wanted some accountability because parents should be parenting and not allowing, I'd say in, in so many words, the streets to raise the kids,” King says.”
The ordinance, as proposed, is aimed at parental negligence. It looks to hold parents and guardians responsible for not properly watching over children or for not keeping them off the streets. Parents could get a fine of $500 and up to 30 days in jail.
King says, however, that parents who might be trying to be good parents, but can’t get control of their kids, will have an out, if they can show that they are cooperative with police.
But the proposed ordinance would still hold the minor responsible for being out past curfew, and that could mean a referral to the state Department of Juvenile Justice.
Lt. Lee says that for parents and guardians who want help, officers will likely give it to them, rather than only punish transgressions.
“We enforce the law,” Lee says. “That's what we're there for. But we are human. And so are going to give advice. And most parents would ask, ‘What can I do? Who can I reach out to to get some help?’ And if we know the avenue to take, we're going to offer that because we don't want to come back to that house. If we can help them get control of their children, then that's one less issue we have in the county.”
Heading into Wednesday’s County Council meeting, where the third and final vote on whether to enact a curfew will follow a public hearing, the school district has taken the reins on informing students and parents about the curfew, mainly through the district’s SROs.
King says the biggest issue facing the school district in trying to tell parents what lies ahead is misinformation and fears that the county is trying to tell parents how to raise their children.
“It's a lot of misinformation,” he says. “People are like, ‘Oh, this is martial law, they're taking out rights.’ Nothing like that. It's just making sure that everyone is safe in all of our communities.”
The curfew is aimed at curbing unattended youth from being out late. Children who are with their parents or guardians, whatever the time, King reminds, will not be charged under the curfew.
“If you with your parent and you are traveling at three o'clock in the morning,” King says, “you're fine. It's the ones that are out breaking in cars or whatnot that it’s going to really affect.”