South Carolina's criminal records sit at the State Law Enforcement Division, whose Criminal Justice Information Services is the central state repository, collecting, storing and disseminating crime data and criminal identification and record information to criminal justice agencies, civil agencies and the public as the law allows. The public door is CATCH, Citizens Access to Criminal Histories, a name based search that lets anyone view and print South Carolina criminal records.
A CATCH report is South Carolina only and name based. SLED says fingerprint searches are the most reliable and least likely to produce a false result, runs them only when a statute requires, and warns that a record kept under an alias or a different date of birth can produce a false negative or a false positive on a name search. The report rests on fingerprints taken by law enforcement or a detention facility under Section 23-3-120, and leaves wanted persons and sex offender registrations out.
- Online: a non refundable $25.00 per South Carolina criminal records check on CATCH, by most major credit or debit cards, plus a $1.00 convenience fee and, from July 1, 2026, a $1.43 service fee the customer pays and SLED does not keep.
- Charities and schools: $8.00 for charitable organizations that meet the statute's requirements, with a $1.14 service fee online, and no charge for school districts checking prospective and substitute teachers.
- By mail: the Criminal Record Check Form, exact payment by business check, certified or cashier's check or money order payable to SLED, and a self addressed stamped envelope, to SLED Records Department, P.O. Box 21398, Columbia, SC 29221-1398; no convenience fee, no cash or personal checks; say so if the result must be notarized or certified.
- Match rule: a starts with match on last name, first name and date of birth, with the Social Security number searched if given; several matching subjects return a Special Processing Required message.
Written by SearchSystems.net from South Carolina's own systems: the SLED Citizens Access to Criminal Histories (CATCH) site, the SLED Criminal Justice Information Services department page, the SLED CATCH criminal record check form, the SLED name change criminal records check packet, each read on October 14, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.
CATCH: what the report shows and what it costs
The CATCH terms describe the service and its limits. It allows viewing and printing of criminal records information from South Carolina only; national checks are allowed only where specifically authorized by law; information on wanted persons is not included; and the arrest report is supported by fingerprint submissions taken under Section 23-3-120. The search requires a starts with match on the subject's last name, first name and date of birth, searches the Social Security number if provided, and returns a Special Processing Required message when more than one subject matches. CATCH does not check for registered sex offenders, who are found free of charge on the separate South Carolina Sex Offender Registry.
The fee is a non refundable $25.00 per check, most major credit and debit cards accepted, with a $1.00 convenience fee for online searches that does not apply to mail and that SLED does not keep. A notice on the site adds that effective July 1, 2026 customers submitting online CATCH requests pay the applicable service fee, $1.43 for each $25.00 report and $1.14 for each $8.00 charitable or reduced fee report, none of it retained by SLED. Charitable organizations that meet the statutory requirements pay the reduced $8.00, and under statute checks for prospective teachers and substitute teachers go to local school districts without charge. Subjects, the terms note, have a right to correct erroneous information about them. Questions about results go to the SLED Public Dissemination Unit at 803.896.1443, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., or SLEDCATCHAcct@sled.sc.gov.
Requests by mail
SLED accepts criminal records checks by mail with no convenience fee. The Criminal Record Check form takes the full name with middle name, aliases and maiden names, date of birth and Social Security number, which a private requester may obtain only if given voluntarily, and for charities and school districts the organization's name, the verification or user ID number SLED issued for online checks and, for districts, the position applied for. The fee is $25, or $8 for an approved charity that includes its name and user ID, paid by business check, certified or cashier's check or money order payable to SLED; personal checks and cash are refused. A self addressed stamped envelope is required for the return, and everything goes to SLED Records Department, P.O. Box 21398, Columbia, SC 29221-1398. A request that must be notarized or certified has to say so. The form states that the report contains records of arrests and convictions made by state and local agencies in South Carolina only, that altering a completed check can be prosecuted, that a completed check should be accepted only with an original SLED stamp, and that the SLED records section has been closed to the public since December 15, 2008. State agencies follow a Treasurer's memo on paying without paper checks.
The name change check: fingerprints and $25
A criminal records check for a legal name change runs on the Public Dissemination name change packet: the form with all names ever used and the requested new name, an affidavit notarized under S.C. Code Ann. 15-49-20 certifying that the person has never been convicted under any other name, a set of applicant fingerprints on a blue card taken at a local law enforcement agency or a commercial service such as IdentoGo at that provider's own charge, a self addressed postage paid envelope, and exactly $25.00 by business check from a South Carolina business, certified or cashier's check or money order payable to SLED, mailed to the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, Attn: Records, P.O. Box 21398, Columbia, South Carolina 29221. The check is run on the fingerprints against arrests by South Carolina state and local agencies, notes whether an arrest record exists and whether the person is on the sex offender registry, and is not valid without the raised SLED seal.
Expungement and the four week rule
SLED does not start an expungement and cannot remove a charge without a Court Order for Destruction of Arrest Records. A person applies with the solicitor's office in the county of the arrest, or directly with the magistrate or municipal court that dismissed the charge, and asks that office or court to expedite if a job interview looms. SLED sends no confirmation; it asks for four weeks from receipt of the order to remove the charge, after which the person can buy a CATCH check online or by mail to confirm. A charge that still appears is fixed by mailing a certified true copy of the order with the recent check and a stamped return envelope to the SLED Expungement Department, P.O. Box 21398, Columbia, SC 29221, which expunges the charge and returns an updated check if the original was bought within thirty days. SLED holds only the state repository, so a charge that lingers on a third party background check is disputed with that company, and one that lingers on the FBI identity history summary is raised with SLED.
The units behind the record
The CJIS page names the parts. The AFIS unit receives, processes and stores fingerprint cards, compares submitted prints against the state repository for criminal and non criminal purposes, and runs the process by which a member of the public disputes what is on their criminal history. The Non Criminal Justice Information Services unit works with agencies on fingerprint based checks, even before the legislation that requires them is written, and vets private vendors and employees who may see unencrypted criminal justice information. The Computerized Criminal History unit enters arrest, judicial and custody information, processes final dispositions from the courts and court ordered expungements from General Sessions and summary courts, and keeps AFIS and FBI records in step. The Public Dissemination Unit handles citizen requests, legal name changes and CATCH itself, including troubleshooting, refunds and special handling. The Sex Offender Registry unit keeps the registry and, since Act 221 of May 23, 2022, administers the tiered removal process the General Assembly created after Powell v. Keel.
Reading a CATCH report
A CATCH report is a South Carolina arrest and conviction record matched by name and date of birth, which SLED itself ranks below a fingerprint search for reliability. It will not show wanted persons, sex offender status or anything from another state or the federal courts, and a name kept differently in the record can hide or invent a match. A report bearing the original SLED stamp, or notarized and certified on request, is the one an agency should accept, and a fingerprint based check exists only where a statute calls for it.
Questions about background checks in South Carolina
Related South Carolina records
The SLED record is one of the South Carolina records this site covers: the South Carolina court records guide explains the Judicial Branch's own case search, the arrest records guide covers what a booking makes public, the sex offender registry guide covers SLED's free registry, and the South Carolina county pages list each sheriff and clerk of court.