Lexington County, South Carolina

How a case moves here

Lexington County follows South Carolina law on arrests, release, and courts. These rules are the same in every county in the state; the full set covers prosecutors, defense, and jails too.

Who decides release first: A magistrate, or a municipal judge for city charges, sets bond at a hearing within 24 hours of arrest. Magistrates need not be lawyers. A magistrate can't set bail on a charge punishable by death or life in prison; a circuit judge does.
S.C. Code 22-5-510 S.C. Code 17-15-10 and following
Time to see a judge: A person charged with a bailable offense must have a bond hearing within 24 hours of arrest, and the jail must release the person within four hours after the bond is delivered.
S.C. Code 22-5-510(B)
Money bail: Magistrates and judges may set cash or surety bonds. A person charged with a new violent offense while out on bond for one loses the first bond, and any new bond must be paid in full cash.
S.C. Code 17-15-10, 17-15-15, 17-15-55
Courts: The circuit court, sitting as the Court of General Sessions, tries felonies and the more serious misdemeanors. Magistrate courts in each county try crimes punished by up to 30 days in jail or a $500 fine, and municipal courts try similar crimes and ordinance violations inside city limits.
S.C. Code 22-3-540, 22-3-550 S.C. Const. art. V, sec. 13
Judges and magistrates: The General Assembly elects circuit judges by a joint vote for six-year terms. The governor appoints magistrates, with the Senate's consent, for four-year terms. Magistrates appointed since 2005 need a four-year college degree and must pass a certification exam, but need not be lawyers.
S.C. Const. art. V, sec. 13 S.C. Code 22-1-10

Read from the statutes and court rules cited, 2026-09-30. Magistrates are called summary court judges, so setter_is_judge is "yes" though they need not be lawyers. Whether municipal or magistrate courts use a bail schedule for minor offenses was not found. How many counties have moved the jail from the sheriff to the county government was not counted.

What this county does differently

Nothing county-specific yet

Whether Lexington County runs a pretrial services office, uses a risk assessment, or has its own bail schedule appears here once a cited source says so.

Police agencies

Agencies: FBI NIBRS master file 2025 batch headers; names from the FBI agency list, pulled 2026-09-29. An agency that serves several counties appears on each. Population served is the FBI's figure.

Crime and arrests

No figures yet

Reported offenses and arrests for Lexington County, counted by the agencies that serve it, appear here once the county series is published. NIBRS reporting here started as early as January 1991.