SCCID Public Defenders

South Carolina’s Public Defender System is a county-based system. The counties are grouped and divided among 16 judicial circuits within the state. Each judicial circuit has a Circuit Public Defender who is responsible for the administration of public defender services in each of the counties within the circuit. Circuit Public Defenders are appointed to the position for four-year terms by the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense (SCCID) upon nomination to the position by a Selection Panel, consisting of attorneys representing each of the counties within the circuit.

Circuit Public Defenders are employees of the State of South Carolina. Funding for each circuit comes from the State of South Carolina and from each of the counties within that circuit. The circuit Public Defender System replaced a system of non-profit defender corporations with the passage of the South Carolina Indigent Defense Act of 2007.

Circuit Public Defenders