CONGRESSWOMAN NANCY MACE PROPOSES AGGRAVATED VOYEURISM LAW TO STRENGTHEN PROTECTIONS FOR VICTIMS IN SOUTH CAROLINA
State-level proposal closes loopholes in decades-old law, creates felony penalties for recording minors, assault victims, and incapacitated persons
CHARLESTON, S.C. – January 3, 2026 – U.S. Representative Nancy Mace today announced legislation she is proposing in her run for Governor to modernize South Carolina’s criminal statute on voyeurism, which has not been meaningfully updated since 2001.
The Aggravated Voyeurism Act, would address critical gaps in current law that allow offenders who secretly record victims, including minors, sexual assault victims, and incapacitated individuals, to face harsher penalties for a first offense. Currently these conditions are not addressed in state law.
Additionally, first offense for recording in this manner, under current state law, is five hundred dollars or less.
“Imagine surviving a sexual assault, only to learn someone filmed it,” said Rep. Mace. “Under current law, the person who created a permanent record of your assault could walk away with a fine less than a speeding ticket. South Carolina law is sometimes absurd.”
Ali’s Law:
- Creates the crime of aggravated voyeurism: A felony carrying 5-10 years in prison when the victim is a minor, is incapacitated, is being subjected to another crime, or when the offender holds a position of trust over the victim
- Increases base penalties: Raises the maximum fine for first-offense voyeurism from $500 to $5,000 and makes jail time mandatory rather than optional
- Requires mandatory restitution: Offenders must pay for victims’ therapy, lost income, and other damages
- Mandates consecutive sentencing: Voyeurism sentences stack on top of other charges, ensuring offenders cannot serve time concurrently for filming an assault they also committed
“Recording this kind of crime isn’t a footnote. It’s a awful and invasive crime that does serious long-term damage to its victims,” Mace continued. “A recording can be distributed, held over a victim’s head for years, used for extortion, or live on the internet forever. South Carolina law should treat it like the serious violation of someone’s life, that it is.”
The legislation also increases penalties for distribution of voyeuristic material and adds protections for first-time juvenile offenders through family court diversion with mandatory behavioral health counseling.
Current South Carolina law dates to an era before smartphones and social media made recording and distributing illegal images instantaneous. The underlying “peeping tom” statute was first enacted in 1937.
Separately, Rep. Mace previously supported, federally, the TAKE IT DOWN Act, federal legislation requiring platforms to remove non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours, which was signed into law in 2025. She has proposed the SUE Voyeurs Act and the STOP Voyeurs Act federally as well. These bills, including the one she is proposing today, were born out of experience and trauma she endured while working with victims of voyeurism over the course of the last two years.
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