Reference · Read with care
Record glossary
A plain-English reference to common booking and court terms, plus the labels used in this site’s statistics and historical archive.
Sources checked October 3, 2026.
Definitions explain general usage. A label does not establish guilt, the legal basis of a specific hold, or the current outcome of a case.
Booking and booking number
A booking records a detention-processing event; it is not a court judgment.
On this site, each distinct detention-center booking number identifies one captured booking record. A later booking of someone with the same name is a separate event. A name match alone does not establish that two records belong to the same person.
The listed date and descriptions are observations from the public detention source. They do not establish guilt or a case outcome. Use a court case number for court research; the booking number identifies the detention entry and should not be assumed to be a court case number.
Allegation
A claim that something happened, rather than a finding that it was proved.
A criminal charge states an accusation. Its appearance in a booking listing does not establish that the accused person committed the offense. A court proceeding and its result answer different questions from the initial listing.
Read the wording as attributed to the source. Do not add motives, details of an incident, or a conclusion about guilt from a photograph, a bond amount, or the number of listed descriptions.
Listed bond
A displayed release amount or condition, not a fine or a case outcome.
A judge sets bond amounts and conditions. Different forms of bond can have different requirements, and conditions may later change. The amount displayed in an archive is what was captured from the source; it cannot establish what is currently required for release.
For example, a booking page showing a dollar amount does not establish that paying that amount would secure release immediately. Check the current court order and detention information before making arrangements.
Personal recognizance
Release based on a commitment accepted by the court, without requiring a surety under the applicable order.
South Carolina law provides for release on a person’s own recognizance in eligible circumstances, subject to the court’s assessment and conditions. Recognizance involves court obligations, including required appearances. It does not resolve the charge.
An amount associated with a recognizance entry should not be read as an ordinary cash payment instruction. The specific order controls. Confirm the order with the court or an attorney if the listing is unclear.
Bench warrant
An arrest order issued by a judge.
A bench warrant can relate to an existing court proceeding. The label alone does not identify the underlying case, explain every reason for the order, or establish the result of the original charge.
Treat a booking row labeled “bench warrant” as the source’s description. Consult the relevant court record for the order and case context; do not automatically count it as proof of an additional new incident.
Failure to appear
A description connected with a required court appearance that was not made.
A missed required appearance can lead to a bench warrant. South Carolina law also addresses willful failure to appear in specified circumstances. A short detention label does not supply the facts needed to decide whether that legal standard is met.
The entry does not establish the result of the underlying case or explain why the appearance was missed. Find the linked case and applicable order for context; an attorney or the court can address a specific appearance requirement.
Probation violation or probation hold
An entry related to supervision conditions that should not be assumed to describe a new criminal incident.
South Carolina law permits a warrant and arrest for an alleged violation of probation conditions, followed by court action. An allegation of a violation and a court’s decision about that allegation are different stages.
A listing may provide only a brief probation or hold label. That wording cannot establish which condition was involved, whether there is a separate new charge, or what the court ultimately decided. This site groups these rows with court, probation, and hold entries for statistical purposes.
Legal counts and listed charge rows
A legal count and a row in a captured listing are different units.
A count is an individual allegation in a charging document. This site’s “listed charge rows” metric counts saved description rows instead. A single row saying “2 counts” contributes one row; the dashboard does not expand it into two legal counts.
One booking can have several rows, and rows can include warrants or administrative entries. Booking totals count each distinct booking number once in the selected total. Agency and category totals can overlap when one booking has different matching rows, so adding them together can count the same booking more than once.
Disposition
The recorded resolution of a case or charge.
A case can end through a guilty plea, a dismissal, or a trial outcome. Read the recorded result and any associated order for the particular charge instead of assuming the original detention label remained the final charge.
A booking archive preserves a detention observation. This site does not infer a disposition from a missing inmate listing, a release notice, or an unchanged charge description. Look for the applicable court entry when you need a case outcome.
Dismissal
A recorded termination of a case or charge; the wording and scope of the order matter.
General court terminology distinguishes dismissal with prejudice, which prevents an identical matter from being filed again, from dismissal without prejudice, which allows a later filing. A bare “dismissed” label does not explain every consequence of a particular South Carolina order.
Check which charge and case the dismissal applies to. A person can have more than one case or charge. Disappearance from the detention roster is not evidence that a charge was dismissed, and dismissal is a different result from a not-guilty verdict.
Retained descriptions and changes under review
Archive labels explaining whether visible descriptions were observed recently or preserved from an earlier check.
“Previously captured information” means the latest check did not include charge details and earlier saved descriptions remain visible. Where available, the page shows when those descriptions were last observed. They should not be presented as a fresh confirmation of the current charge list.
“Source change needs review” means a different charge list was reported. Previously accepted descriptions can remain visible while that change is reviewed. If no descriptions were previously accepted, the page can show no rows. Neither an empty list nor a pending change establishes that charges were dismissed.
No longer listed and historical records
A source-observation status, not a confirmed legal or custody outcome.
A booking is marked no longer listed after a successful complete scan does not find it on the official active roster. A failed scan preserves the preceding snapshot. Historical booking pages remain in the archive after the entry leaves the roster.
A source change can reflect release, transfer, correction, or another update. It does not establish where a person is now, whether a bond was paid, or how a case ended. Check the current source and the relevant agency for a custody answer, and the court record for a legal outcome.
