In an effort to further discourage area crime and criminal intent, the Isle of Palms recently became the 21st South Carolina municipality to enact hate crime legislation. The new measure took effect July 22 after the IOP City Council unanimously approved an ordinance pertaining to more than 10 kinds of crime based on personal bias that violate public peace.
“We passed a resolution a couple of years ago to ask the state to pass a state-level hate crime bill,” said IOP Mayor Phillip Pounds. “Since they haven’t taken any action yet, we felt the need to join other municipalities and pass a local hate crime bill.”
Per the new ordinance, offenses involve crimes motivated by bias or hate towards any person or persons, in whole or in part, because of actual or perceived race, color, creed, religion, ancestry, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability or national origin. “Our principal intention is to send a message to residents and visitors that those types of crimes aren’t going to be tolerated here,” Pounds said.
Penalties for committing these crimes include:
- Fines of not more than $500 and/or imprisonment for not more than 30 days.
- Community service or participation in an educational program, as set forth by the court.
- Restitution up to the limits of the court’s jurisdiction for damages sustained by victims, which may include compensation for medical bills, counseling or therapy or damage to property.
A person cannot be found guilty of hate intimidation unless first convicted under the underlying crime; hate intimidation may not be used as a stand-alone crime.
As of August 2025, South Carolina and Wyoming are the only states not to have passed any statewide hate crime laws. Of the other 48 states, only 14 have laws against all hate crimes, but each state can include additional types of hate crimes.Other Lowcountry municipalities to enact hate crime legislation are the City of Charleston, Town of Mount Pleasant, City of Myrtle Beach, City of North Charleston and the Town of Summerville.
While hate crimes are more public now than in the past, the U.S. Congress passed the first federal hate crime statutes in 1968: one prohibiting violent interference with housing rights and another prohibiting violent interference with several enumerated rights, including voting and employment activities. Other measures have included the Church Arson Prevention Act of 1996, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2009 and the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act in 2022. “So far, we have had very little past problems with this issue,” Pounds said. “But we passed this ordinance because we are trying to be proactive.”
By L. C. Leach III
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