South Carolina's unified judicial system is headed by the chief justice of the supreme court, who, along with four associate justices, is elected by the general assembly to a 10-year term. The supreme court is the final court of appeal. A five-member intermediate court of appeals for criminal cases was established in 1979, but legal questions (specifically, about the election of general assembly members to four of the five seats) prevented the court from convening until 1981; the court became a permanent constitutional court in 1984.
Sixteen circuit courts hear major criminal and civil cases. As of 1999 there were 154 circuit court judges, all of them elected by the general assembly to six-year terms. The state also has a system of family courts for domestic and juvenile cases. In addition, there are magistrates' courts (justices of the peace) in all counties, municipal courts, and county probate judges.
The state penal system is rapidly becoming centralized under the state Department of Corrections; there is a separate state system for juvenile offenders. In June 2001, there were 22,267 inmates in state and federal correctional institutions, an increase of 0.5% over the previous year. The state's incarceration rate stood at 526 per 100,000 population. South Carolina's total crime rate for 2001 was 4,752.7 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, including a total of 29,265 violent crimes and 163,838 crimes against property in that year. South Carolina has a death penalty statute. In 2003 there were 77 inmates on death row. Between 1912 and 1962 there were 241 executions, and there were 28 between 1977 and 2003.