Seriousness decides the courtroom. South Carolina runs two layers for adult criminal cases:

• Summary courts. These are the county magistrates plus any town municipal court. They try charges carrying no more than a $500 fine, 30 days, or both (S.C. Code 22-3-550). Magistrate juries seat six people (S.C. Code 22-3-545). Bond hearings and preliminary hearings belong to these judges too.
• Court of General Sessions. Circuit judges hear criminal cases under this name. Felonies and heavier misdemeanors go there, and trial stays in the home county of the offense.
• Family Court. Most charges against anyone under 18 go here instead.

Locally, General Sessions sits at the county courthouse, 1406 Amelia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115. Orangeburg, Calhoun and Dorchester counties make up the First Judicial Circuit (S.C. Code 14-5-610), sharing one Solicitor's office and one circuit public defender.

Criminal matters are handled at these addresses:

• Clerk of Court (General Sessions filings and records): Administrative Centre, 1437 Amelia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115. Calls go through the county's main number, 803-533-1000, Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• County courthouse, where General Sessions meets: 1406 Amelia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115. The Clerk can give courtroom and term dates.
• Bond Court, run by magistrates every day from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Law Complex, 1520 Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29118.
• Central Region Magistrate Office: 1540 Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29118, 803-533-5879. Mail: P.O. Box 9000, Orangeburg, SC 29116. Weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Bond Court questions come here too.
• Central Region Traffic Court Office: 1540 Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29118, 803-533-5848.
• Eastern Region Magistrate Office: 8423 Old State Road, Holly Hill, SC 29059, 803-496-9533. Mail: P.O. Box 154, Holly Hill, SC 29059. Weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Western Region Magistrate Office (Neeses): 6357 Savannah Highway, Neeses, SC 29107, 803-247-2011. Mail: P.O. Box 387, Neeses, SC 29107. Mondays and Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

For Family Court dates and filings, ask the Clerk of Court at the county number listed here.

A town officer's ticket may be set in that town's municipal court rather than before a county magistrate. A municipal judge shares the magistrate's small-case limits of $500 and 30 days (S.C. Code 14-25-65), and may set and accept bonds (S.C. Code 14-25-115).

State records list police agencies for Orangeburg, Bowman, Branchville, Cordova, Elloree, Eutawville, Holly Hill, North, Norway, Santee, Springfield and Vance. Each town keeps its own court calendar. Look at the ticket or summons for the court's name and address. If it shows none, call the Central Region Magistrate Office, 1540 Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29118, 803-533-5879, and ask which court has the case.

Charges filed by sheriff's deputies usually go to a county magistrate office.

South Carolina's 24-hour rule (S.C. Code 22-5-510) puts every arrested person before a judge for bond quickly. Here that means Bond Court in the Law Complex, 1520 Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29118, held daily between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. What happens there:

• A magistrate decides the type and amount of bond, plus any rules such as no contact.
• Police supply the judge with a rap sheet, pending cases and existing bonds (S.C. Code 22-5-510(E)).
• Victims who were notified may attend and share their views.
• A request for a public defender can be made.
• Murder and other death-or-life charges get no bond decision here. Those wait for a circuit judge.

Felony-level charges allow a preliminary hearing. The request is due 10 days after Bond Court (Rule 2(a), SCRCrimP). The magistrate tests the state's evidence there, and if the proof falls short, the charge can be dismissed at that stage.

Small cases stay in summary court, before a county magistrate or a town judge. After a not guilty plea, the magistrate schedules a trial, and the defense can ask for six jurors. Common examples and their limits:

• Shoplifting goods worth $2,000 or less: a fine as high as $1,000, up to 30 days, or both (S.C. Code 16-13-110).
• Assault and battery, third degree (S.C. Code 16-3-600(E)(2)): fine up to $500, jail up to 30 days, or both.
• Misdemeanors heard in General Sessions are classed by top jail term: Class C one year, Class B two, Class A three (S.C. Code 16-1-20).

The First Circuit Solicitor offers ways out of court for some first offenses. Its Alcohol Education Program serves first offenders who were 17 through 20 when arrested on an alcohol charge other than DUI. It costs $250 and requires eight hours of counseling and 20 hours of community service. Ask for a referral at the magistrate or town court date. A Traffic Education Program covers minor tickets. Program questions go to 151 Docket Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, 803-533-6252.

1. Bond Court on Ellis Avenue sets release terms.
2. Preliminary hearing in magistrate court, if requested in time, to test the evidence (Rule 2(a), SCRCrimP).
3. General Sessions at the county courthouse, 1406 Amelia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, where the First Circuit Solicitor prosecutes.
4. Plea or trial. The person can plead guilty or take the case to trial.
5. Sentence, set by a circuit judge.

S.C. Code 16-1-20 sets felony caps in five-year rungs. Class A reaches 30 years, B 25, and so on down to 5 years for Class F. For murder, the range is 30 years to life, or death (S.C. Code 16-3-20(A)). Shoplifting above $2,000 becomes a felony: five years max under $10,000, ten years max from $10,000 up (S.C. Code 16-13-110).

Pretrial Intervention (PTI) can end a first, nonviolent charge in dismissal (S.C. Code 17-22-150). Locally, applicants must be 18 or older and may use it once. A Solicitor or a magistrate or town court refers them. Fees total $350, payable only by money order or a certified check from a bank, and the law allows a waiver for anyone unable to pay (S.C. Code 17-22-110). Applicants show a picture ID and their Social Security card at the PTI office at the courthouse, 1406 Amelia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, 803-533-6252. After finishing, clearing the record costs $35 to the Clerk of Court and $250 to the Solicitor's Office.

• Bond. For crimes on the violent list in S.C. Code 16-1-60, such as armed robbery, kidnapping and first- or second-degree burglary, a magistrate may refuse bond. Murder and other death-or-life charges need a circuit judge.
• Bond while on bond. Arrested for another violent or gun felony while already bonded on one? That cancels the first bond on the spot under S.C. Code 17-15-55(C), and a circuit court hearing must follow inside 30 days. Committing a violent crime under those circumstances is a felony of its own, up to five years (S.C. Code 17-15-270).
• Emergency review. Prosecutors may seek a fast bond hearing before a circuit judge, held within 48 hours (S.C. Code 17-15-55(B)).
• No 10 percent deposit (S.C. Code 17-15-15) and no PTI for violent charges (S.C. Code 17-22-50).
• A growing list. Firing a gun at or into a dwelling or other structure joined the violent list in May 2026 (2026 Act No. 138).

Prosecution. The First Circuit Solicitor prosecutes General Sessions cases from 151 Docket Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, 803-533-6252, weekdays 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The office's website, scsolicitor1.org, explains its programs.

Defense. Defendants short on money sign an affidavit about their finances. A $40 application fee follows, and the clerk can shrink or drop it (S.C. Code 17-3-30). The public defender's local office is at 151 Docket Street, Room 110, Orangeburg, SC 29115, 803-536-4858. Mail goes to PO Box 1112, Orangeburg, SC 29116-1112. Each circuit has one circuit public defender (S.C. Code 17-3-510).

Statewide oversight comes from the South Carolina Commission on Indigent Defense, 1330 Lady Street, Suite 401, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-734-1343.

The South Carolina Judicial Branch keeps the Orangeburg County Public Index, which the Solicitor's Office links as its case search. Search there by the person's name, or use a case number. It covers court cases, not jail custody.

For a hearing date by phone:

• Magistrate cases: Central Region Magistrate Office, 1540 Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29118, 803-533-5879.
• General Sessions: Clerk of Court, 1437 Amelia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, through 803-533-1000.
• Felony plea and trial scheduling: Solicitor's Office, 151 Docket Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, 803-533-6252.

Know the full name and birthday before calling.

Across the county, criminal warrants are served by sheriff's deputies, and town officers handle them within city limits. Phone the Orangeburg County Sheriff's Office warrants line, 803-533-5803, and ask whether one is open. Statewide and national wanted lists: state probation's Most Wanted Offenders page (tips 888-761-6175) and the Marshals Service's 15 Most Wanted fugitives. A filed case may show on the Public Index. A lawyer's guidance should come first. After that, surrender at the Sheriff's Office, 1520 Ellis Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29118, or call whichever judge issued it. The Clerk of Court keeps General Sessions files: 1437 Amelia Street, Orangeburg, SC 29115, 803-533-1000.

U.S. charges from this county fall to the Orangeburg Division of the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina. Hearings take place at 901 Richland Street, Columbia, SC 29201, Matthew J. Perry, Jr. U.S. Courthouse, 803-765-5816. The clerk works weekdays, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

• The first federal appearance doubles as a detention hearing on release (18 U.S.C. 3142). The defense can seek up to five days' delay, the government three.
• Until a federal trial, marshals manage custody out of 901 Richland Street, Suite 1300, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-765-5821.
• Once a federal prison term begins, use the Federal Bureau of Prisons inmate locator.

The state case keeps moving despite an ICE detainer. The detainer's main effect shows up the day custody would otherwise end.

1. ICE files Form I-247A. That paper asks the Ellis Avenue jail to hold the person up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released (8 CFR 287.7(d)).
2. Jail staff review immigration status on criminal bookings within 72 hours (S.C. Code 23-3-1100), and they report unlawful presence to Homeland Security.
3. Bond judges weigh unlawful presence along with flight risk (S.C. Code 22-5-510(D)(4)).
4. Once ICE takes custody, questions go to its South Carolina office, 3950 Faber Place Drive, North Charleston, SC 29405, 843-746-9800.
5. The ICE Online Detainee Locator finds people in ICE custody.

Ask the defense lawyer about immigration effects before any guilty plea.

Short local terms, three months or less, stay with the county, normally at the regional jail (S.C. Code 24-3-30). Longer terms go to SCDC custody, and SCDC chooses the prison (S.C. Code 24-3-20).

• State intake, called reception and evaluation, comes before any prison assignment. No in-person visits happen then unless intake stretches beyond 30 days.
• Use the SCDC inmate search to track state custody, which it reflects through the prior midnight.
• Each prison has an entry on our South Carolina state prisons list.
• SCDC headquarters: 4444 Broad River Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-8500.
• Parole and probation run through the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services, 293 Greystone Boulevard, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-734-9220.

Family Court handles most charges against children under 18 (S.C. Code 63-19-20). Within 48 hours of the child being taken into custody, a judge must hold a detention hearing, and Saturdays, Sundays and holidays don't count (S.C. Code 63-19-830).

• Some 14- to 16-year-olds can be tried as adults. It takes a serious felony charge (Class A-D, or 15 years or more) plus an investigation and a hearing (S.C. Code 63-19-1210).
• For murder or criminal sexual conduct, the Solicitor may ask in writing within 30 days to move the case to adult court.
• The First Circuit Solicitor runs Juvenile Arbitration, a diversion option for some youth cases.
• The DJJ county office for Calhoun and Orangeburg is at 303 Summers Avenue, Orangeburg, SC 29115, 803-533-6270. Most counties' youth are held at DJJ's Juvenile Detention Complex, 1725 Shivers Road, Columbia, SC 29210, 803-896-9440 (visitation line).

The state Constitution lists victims' rights (S.C. Const. art. I, § 24). Victims can learn of bond hearings and speak at them. Notice is owed to them when the accused is caught, let go or escapes. They may confer with the Solicitor's staff and ask for restitution. Before any bond hearing, officers should alert the victim (S.C. Code 16-3-1525). If that warning never came in time, the judge has to push the hearing back.

• Bond Court's victim assistance coordinators: 803-534-1511.
• The Solicitor's Witnesses and Victims program helps through the court process.
• The Attorney General's Victim Advocacy Division, inside the Rembert Dennis Building at 1000 Assembly Street, Room 519, Columbia, SC 29201, 803-737-3739.
• SC VINE sends free custody alerts through VINELink South Carolina or 866-727-2846, with Spanish available too.

Family of the accused should not reach out to the victim at all. That includes notes passed by friends and posts online. Any contact can break bond terms.