Ode to South Carolina

As most of you know, my family and I recently returned from a wonderful vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. I cannot say enough good things about our stay: wonderful accommodations, perfect weather, and beautiful beaches. It is a state that I have been to several times and plan to visit again in the future. However, I just do not feel like my vacation story would be complete without sharing some humor I found when driving into the state of South Carolina.

For those of you who do not know, South Carolina is a state that often makes news headlines and provides endless fodder for late night comics. Jon Stewart recently referred to South Carolina as "America's whoopee cushion."

Sometimes the news is about a resident of the state. Do you remember this girl?

Other times SC makes the news for political scandals. Does the name Mark Sanford ring a bell? You remember, the governor who left the country without telling anyone, who was found later with his mistress, and then would not shut up about it.




However, being someone who takes great interest in public policy, especially criminal justice policy, I know South Carolina as one of the few states that might have worse policies than Oklahoma. Being an equal opportunity criticizer, I decided to give South Carolina their turn on my blog.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, South Carolina is ranked eighth in the nation for their incarceration rate. That means that 42 states have a smaller percentage of citizens incarcerated in jails and prisons. What is the big deal with that you ask? It costs approximately $20,000 a year to incarcerate someone. Is that an appropriate amount to pay to keep society safe from axe murderers and child molesters? Absolutely. However, upon entering the state of South Carolina, a prominent white sign caught my eye. It read:

LITTERING: $1000 and PRISON.

I immediately began laughing hysterically when I read the sign. I was laughing so hard I produced tears and Matt thought I might have been a little crazy. These signs were posted every two or three miles along the interstate. I thought the signs must have been exaggerating. I now know that they were not. Once I came back home, I researched the SC penalty for littering. I stumbled across a website entitled "Palmetto Pride, Your Anti-Litter Organization." There I read the state littering law. That is where I discovered that the maximum fine for littering in South Carolina is $1087 plus court assessments and that guilty convictions can lead to jail time between 30 days to one year. In addition, depending in what county you get caught littering, there are often additional fees.

Consequently, in a state where fifteen percent of adults are considered illiterate, one third of high school students drop out before graduation, and 15.7 percent of citizens live below the poverty level, South Carolina chooses to build a criminal justice system to incarcerate litterers. Maybe they should consider spending some of that money educating their beauty queens.

I will still visit you South Carolina. I love you for giving us beautiful beaches, Stephen Colbert, and a road trip with many laughs. However, until you get real about your policies, you can expect to be the comic relief on late night television for years to come.