COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that students in the state of South Carolina can no longer be arrested and charged with disorderly conduct while at school.
This case was heard after a long series of events in the state starting in 2015 with the assault on a student at Spring Valley High School. A school resource officer came into a classroom and slammed a student to the ground after he was told she was being disobedient in class. When the girl's classmate, Niya Kenny, stood up, recorded the event, and asked why her friend was being assaulted she was also arrested and charged with disturbing school and disorderly conduct.
House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford represented both girls in this case and says he believed the laws were discriminatory.
"What we saw was a definite discrepancy in race, you saw a lot more kids of color being charged with crimes, and you saw a lot more... white kids going home and that was wrong," Rutherford said.
In 2018 the state's courts threw out the Disturbing Schools law saying it was too vague, and in October of 2021 ruled that the disorderly conduct law was too broad and vague to be applied to school-aged children.
According to ACLU Legal Director Allen Chaney, the decision makes sure that these charges can no longer apply to students.
"The state is not allowed to use the Disturbing School statute or the Disorderly Conduct statute to arrest, prosecute, and criminalize school-based behavior," Chaney explained. "The second part of the court's order was that the class of individuals that was certified by the court in the case is entitled to have their prior records of arresting conviction be expunged off of their records."
Rutherford says there are no plans right now for state lawmakers to propose amendments to the current disorderly conduct law to exclude students.
There is a chance that this case could eventually go to the Supreme Court if the state sees a need for further action.