South Carolina Code of Laws
Chapter 17 - Offenses Against Public Policy
Section 16-17-220. Desecration or mutilation of United States, Confederate or State flags.

Any person who in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall (a) knowingly place or cause to be placed any word, inscription, figure, mark, picture, design, device, symbol, name, characters, drawing, notice or advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, color or ensign of the United States, the Confederate States of America or this State or upon a flag, standard, color or ensign purporting to be such, (b) knowingly display, exhibit or expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, color or ensign upon which shall have been printed, painted or otherwise placed or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed or annexed any word, inscription, figure, mark, picture, design, device, symbol, name, characters, drawing, photographs, notice or advertisement of any nature, (c) expose to public view, manufacture, sell, expose for sale, give away or have in possession for sale, to give away, or for use for any purpose, any article or substance, being an article of merchandise or a receptacle of merchandise or article or thing for camping or transporting merchandise upon which shall have been printed, painted, attached or otherwise placed a representation of any such flag, standard, color or ensign to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark or distinguish the article or substance on which placed or (d) publicly mutilate, deface, defile, defy, jeer at, trample upon or cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, color or ensign shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court, and shall also forfeit a penalty of fifty dollars for each offense, to be recovered with costs in a civil action or suit in any court having jurisdiction. Such action or suit may be brought by and in the name of any citizen of this State, and such penalty when collected, less the reasonable cost and expense of action or suit and recovery to be certified by the clerk of court of the county in which the offense is committed, shall be paid into the State Treasury. Two or more penalties may be sued for and recovered in the same action or suit.
HISTORY: 1962 Code Section 16-532; 1952 Code Sections 16-531, 16-532; 1942 Code Sections 1273, 1274; 1932 Code Sections 1273, 1274; Cr. C. '22 Sections 168, 169; Cr. C. '12 Section 207; 1910 (26) 753; 1916 (29) 925; 1950 (46) 1881; 1958 (50) 1676.

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