According to the S.C. Department of Public Safety (2009), gang-related crime has increased dramatically in South Carolina in recent years.  Some statistics reported include:

·         The rate of gang related incidents increased 996% from 1998 to 2007.

·         The rate of gang violence increased 920% over the same time period.

·         Gang related murders increased from none reported in 1998 to a total of 21 in 2007.

·         There was an 184% increase in inmate gang members from FY 00 to FY 08.

·         Gang violence constituted one in 1,000 violent crimes in 1998 but almost 1 in 100 by 2007, representing a change from 0.09% in 1998 to 0.99% in 2007.

Although gang violence has increased markedly in South Carolina over the last decade, it remains a fairly minor contributor to overall crime.  However, although identified gang members represent a small portion of the corrections and community corrections populations, they cause a disproportionate share of incidents in the inmate population. Inmate gang members committed 3,438 violations in FY 08 of which 442 were violent. Gang members in community corrections were revoked at a rate of 44.1%.

In terms of the demographics of gang violence in South Carolina, the SC Department of Public Safety has found that

·         Gang related crime is disproportionately the province of juveniles and young adults, males and minorities.

·         The geographic distribution of gang violence is not heavily weighted towards the more populous urban counties. Although Richland County reported more gang violence than any other county in 2007, it was followed by Florence and Darlington counties, two mid-sized counties.

·         Proportionate to county population, Richland, Charleston, Greenville and Spartanburg ranked one through four respectively in terms of the number of gang members in the correctional system.

By peer county, the data indicate that

·         Richland County reported the most victims of gang violence among the 46 counties in 2007.

·         None of the peer counties was among the then highest counties in 2007 for gang violence victimization rates.

·         Richland county committed the largest number of identified inmate gang members to the corrections system (June, 2008).  Richland was the only peer county in the top 10 counties for the highest rates of gang member inmates.

·         Greenville county had the largest number (number = 139, rate = 3.3) of identified gang members under community correctional supervision (September, 2008).  By comparison, Spartanburg had 44 identified gang members under community correctional supervision (rate = 1.6).

·         Greenville and Richland were among the top 10 counties for rates of gang members under community correctional supervision (September, 2008).

Gang violence by select county is reported for 2007 in Table 21.