South Carolina Harassment Laws: Degrees, Penalties, and Orders

South Carolina harassment laws divide the offense into two degrees based on the kind of conduct involved: first-degree covers physical, in-person behavior, and second-degree covers unwanted communications. Penalties run from 30 days in jail and a $200 fine at the low end to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine when prior convictions or an active restraining order push the charge to a felony. Stalking is a separate, more serious offense that is a felony from the first conviction.

What Counts as Harassment in South Carolina

Both degrees of harassment share the same core requirement. The conduct has to be a pattern of intentional, substantial, and unreasonable intrusion into someone’s private life that serves no legitimate purpose and causes real mental or emotional distress. A single incident generally will not meet the pattern requirement, and accidental or incidental contact does not qualify because the behavior must be intentional.¹

What separates the two degrees is not severity or frequency. It is the type of conduct.

First-Degree Harassment

First-degree harassment covers physical, in-person conduct. The statute lists examples including following someone from place to place, maintaining visual or physical contact after the person has told you to stop or filed a report with law enforcement, conducting surveillance near someone’s home, workplace, or school, and committing vandalism or property damage.¹ The “after notice” element matters in practice. Courts are far more likely to find first-degree harassment when the accused kept showing up after a clear warning to stay away.

Second-Degree Harassment

Second-degree harassment covers verbal, written, or electronic contact that is initiated, maintained, or repeated. Persistent phone calls, unwanted text messages, emails, and social media messages all fit. The same standard of intentional, unreasonable intrusion applies, but the conduct stays in the communication realm rather than involving physical presence or property damage.¹

Penalties

Penalties escalate with the degree of the offense and with two specific aggravating factors: a harassment or stalking conviction within the preceding ten years, and an active injunction or restraining order (including one issued by family court) at the time of the offense.

Second-Degree Harassment

A baseline second-degree conviction is a misdemeanor carrying up to 30 days in jail and a fine of up to $200. Either aggravating factor raises the maximum to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. Even with an aggravator, the offense stays a misdemeanor.²

First-Degree Harassment

First-degree harassment starts as a misdemeanor with a much steeper ceiling: up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $1,000.³ That base already triples the maximum imprisonment for an aggravated second-degree offense.

Aggravating factors turn the offense into a felony. Committing first-degree harassment while a restraining order is in effect carries a fine of at least $7,000. A prior harassment or stalking conviction within ten years carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.³ Judges may also impose mandatory counseling or probation conditions prohibiting further contact with the victim.

How Stalking Differs

Harassment and stalking overlap in practice, but the legal line is about the kind of fear the conduct produces. Harassment causes mental or emotional distress. Stalking causes the victim to fear for their physical safety or the safety of their family. The statute specifically lists fear of death, assault, bodily injury, sexual contact, kidnapping, or property damage.¹

That distinction has a major consequence. Stalking is a felony from the first offense. A first stalking conviction carries up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. Committed while a restraining order is in effect, the fine rises to at least $7,000 with higher potential imprisonment. A prior harassment or stalking conviction within ten years pushes the exposure to fifteen years in prison and a $10,000 fine.⁴

Courts look at the totality of the behavior. Explicit threats clear the line into stalking, but so can conduct that communicates an implied threat, like repeatedly showing up at someone’s home late at night or leaving evidence of being inside their car. The question is whether a reasonable person in that situation would fear for physical safety, not just feel distressed.

Restraining Orders

South Carolina offers two types of protective orders. Which one you need depends on whether there is a domestic relationship between the parties, and they are filed in different courts.

Harassment Restraining Orders

When there is no domestic relationship, the victim can seek a restraining order through magistrate court under the same statute that defines the criminal offense.⁵ The petitioner files a complaint describing the incidents with supporting evidence such as screenshots, call logs, or witness statements.

If the situation requires immediate protection, a judge can issue a temporary restraining order before the full hearing. The court schedules a hearing within 15 days, where both sides can present evidence and testimony. If the judge grants the order, it lasts one year from the hearing date and can be renewed.⁶

Violating a restraining order is a separate criminal offense punishable by up to 30 days in jail, a $500 fine, or both.⁷ The underlying harassment or stalking charges also carry enhanced penalties when committed while a restraining order is active, so a single act of violation can trigger two layers of consequences.

Orders of Protection in Domestic Cases

When harassment occurs within a domestic relationship, the victim seeks an order of protection through family court instead. South Carolina defines “household member” for these purposes as a spouse, former spouse, a person with whom you share a child, or a male and female who are cohabiting or formerly cohabited.⁸

Orders of protection offer broader relief than a standard restraining order. Beyond prohibiting contact, the court can award temporary custody of minor children, order temporary financial support, grant the petitioner exclusive possession of a shared residence, and prohibit the respondent from destroying or disposing of shared property.⁸ Violating an order of protection is punishable by 30 days in jail or a $200 fine. It can also be treated as contempt of court, which carries up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $1,500.

A protection order does not expire at the state line. Under the Violence Against Women Act, every state, tribe, and territory must recognize and enforce a valid protection order issued elsewhere in the country, without requiring local registration.⁹

Firearm Restrictions

A harassment-related restraining order or conviction can trigger a federal firearm ban, and this catches many people off guard. Under federal law, it is illegal to possess a firearm or ammunition while subject to a court order that restrains you from harassing, stalking, or threatening an intimate partner or their child, provided the order was issued after a hearing where you had notice and the chance to participate, and the order either includes a finding that you represent a credible threat to the partner’s or child’s physical safety or explicitly prohibits the use of physical force.¹⁰

A conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence triggers a separate federal firearm prohibition with no expiration date, which applies regardless of whether the state later restores the person’s rights. Possessing a firearm in violation of either provision is a federal felony.

When Federal Charges Apply

Most harassment cases stay in state court. Conduct that crosses state lines or uses interstate communications can trigger federal jurisdiction. The federal cyberstalking statute makes it a crime to use the mail, an interactive computer service, or any facility of interstate commerce to engage in a course of conduct that places someone in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury, or causes substantial emotional distress.¹¹

In practical terms, harassment through social media, email, or text messages can become a federal offense because those communications almost always travel across state lines. Federal stalking charges carry up to five years in prison. The threshold is high, requiring intent to kill, injure, harass, or intimidate, but prosecutors do use this statute in serious cases where online harassment crosses state boundaries.

Filing a Police Report

Building a strong case starts before you walk into the station. Collect everything: screenshots of text messages and social media posts, email printouts, call logs, voicemails, and any security camera footage. For in-person encounters, keep a written log with dates, times, locations, and what happened. Witness contact information strengthens the record considerably.

When you file, officers will assess whether the conduct meets the statutory definition. Bring copies rather than originals. If the harassment involves electronic communications, law enforcement may seek records from service providers or social media platforms to corroborate your account. South Carolina has no statute of limitations for criminal offenses, so older incidents can still be relevant to establishing the required pattern.

After reviewing the evidence, law enforcement decides whether to issue a formal citation or seek an arrest warrant from a magistrate judge. If probable cause exists, the accused can be taken into custody. Filing a police report also creates an official record that supports any later petition for a restraining order.

What Happens in Court

Misdemeanor harassment cases typically go before a magistrate or municipal court on a summons. Felony-level charges, such as first-degree harassment with a prior conviction, move to circuit court. If the accused was arrested, a bond hearing usually happens within 24 hours.

At arraignment, the accused hears the charges and enters a plea. A not-guilty plea moves the case into pre-trial motions and potentially a trial, where the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused engaged in a pattern of intentional harassment. Evidence typically includes electronic records, witness testimony, and any prior warnings the defendant received to stop contacting the victim.

Common defenses include arguing that the contact served a legitimate purpose, that no pattern existed because the incidents were isolated, or that the victim’s distress was not objectively reasonable. On conviction, the judge weighs prior criminal history, the severity of the conduct, and whether the victim was particularly vulnerable. Court-ordered counseling or supervised probation is common in first-offense cases, sometimes in place of jail time.

1
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 16-3-1700 – Definitions
2
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 16-3-1710 – Penalties for Conviction of Harassment in the Second Degree
3
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 16-3-1720 – Penalties for Conviction of Harassment in the First Degree
4
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 16-3-1730 – Penalties for Conviction of Stalking
5
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 16-3-1750 – Action Seeking a Restraining Order Against a Person Engaged in Harassment or Stalking
6
University of South Carolina School of Law. Timeline of a Restraining Order Case
7
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code 16-3-1770 – Form and Content of Temporary Restraining Order
8
South Carolina Legislature. South Carolina Code Title 20, Chapter 4 – Protection from Domestic Abuse
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2265 – Full Faith and Credit Given to Protection Orders
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 2261A – Stalking