Have you ever wondered what it takes to fundamentally improve safety, justice and fairness in South Carolina’s criminal justice system? The short answer is, it’s complicated. However, it is not an insurmountable challenge. We can start with three steps that will foster greater transparency and accountability across the system.
First, we must recognize there is no easy solution or scapegoat to blame. The criminal justice system is complex. It is full of multiple decisions made every day by numerous individuals — members of the community, those accused of crimes, law enforcement officers who respond, prosecutors, defense attorneys, victim advocates, court clerks and judges.
There are also detention officers who house the defendants awaiting disposition, prison staff who take into custody those convicted and sentenced to prison, probation and parole agents who supervise those convicted in our communities and behavioral and medical health care providers. Every one of these decision-makers impacts safety, justice and fairness in our state.
Second, we need to thoughtfully assess our system at each decision point. We must reach beyond the anecdotal and campaign slogan noise. We need to answer the hard questions: what we know and what we do not yet know about decisions being made. Current evidence suggests some progress in South Carolina’s criminal justice system, but still inadequacies are found. Answering hard questions with data helps us all know how well we are utilizing our limited resources.
Third, we must clearly identify and prioritize problems, do research to determine what improvements are needed and implement thoughtful, focused solutions. To advance safety, justice and fairness for all South Carolinians, we must collaborate, enact purposeful reforms and be held accountable for achieving desired results. While none of us can fix things on our own, decision-makers working together can continually improve our state’s criminal justice system. All too often, working in silos or echo chambers inhibits our ability to harness our collective expertise, data and research to advance safety, justice and fairness.
As leaders of diverse organizations across the criminal justice system, we are joining forces to unite for the common good. Together, we acknowledge and applaud recent efforts by our judicial, executive and legislative branches of government to improve various areas of our criminal justice system and endeavor to capitalize on the synergy being created by these efforts.
We are calling on leaders from the courts, prosecution, defense, law enforcement, corrections, city, county and state leaders, medical/behavioral health care and community-based providers, individuals with lived experience, the advocacy community and subject-matter experts to join us for an inaugural conference on Oct. 20 at Trident Technical College in North Charleston.
The State of South Carolina’s Criminal Justice System conference is our opportunity to come together, to confront the challenges we face and showcase some of the best and most promising practices for improving public safety, justice and fairness in South Carolina. The conference also will serve to enhance a collaborative network of data-guided leaders working locally and statewide to improve South Carolina’s criminal justice system.
Much like the work of the conference hosts, the Charleston County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council and the Charleston Forum, the conference will be a groundbreaking opportunity to bring diverse perspectives together for a common purpose. Together, we can challenge our assumptions. We can take these three steps and move South Carolina’s criminal justice system forward.
To learn more about the State of South Carolina’s Criminal Justice System conference, please visit cjcc.charlestoncounty.org.
Ellen S. Steinberg is director of Charleston County’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, and Kristy P. Danford, is criminal justice chair of the Charleston Forum. Both serve on the steering committee of the State of South Carolina’s Criminal Justice System conference.
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