SCVDRS

The South Carolina Violent Death Reporting System (SCVDRS) was established in 2002 through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Data collection began in 2003 and the work continues today, with our valued partners, to collect and use the violent death data to define the problem in South Carolina, identify risk and protective factors, test prevention strategies and assure widespread adoption of successful approaches. Data partners include DHEC Vital Statistics, county coroners, county and municipal law enforcement agencies and our Advisory Council members.

Which Deaths are Included in the South Carolina Violent Death Reporting System?

A violent death is defined as a death that results from the intentional use of physical force or power, threatened or actual, against oneself, another person, or a group or community.  SCVDRS includes:

• homicides
• suicides
• deaths resulting from legal intervention (i.e., when individuals are killed by law enforcement personnel in the line of duty)
• unintentional firearm injury deaths
• injury deaths of undetermined intent

What Types of Data are Gathered?

The SCVDRS collects data from a variety of sources, including:

• death certificates
• medical examiner reports
• law enforcement reports
• toxicology and ballistics reports
   

Contact Information

SC Violent Death Reporting System
SC Department of Health and Environmental Control
2100 Bull Street, SC 29201
SCVDRS@dhec.sc.gov 
 

Data and Publications

• Suicide Data Fact Sheet
• Homicide Fact Sheet
• Deaths from Suicide: A Look at 18 States
• Deaths from Suicide among U.S. Veterans and Armed Forces in 16 States
• Suicides rising across the United States
• Surveillance for Violent Deaths, 32 States
• WISQARS National Violent Death Reporting System (query NVDRS data, including South Carolina)
• SC Suicide Attempts and Deaths Infographic - Youth
• SC Suicide Attempts and Deaths Infographic - Adults
• 2020 S.C. Domestic Violence Advisory Committee Annual Report

Additional Resources

• SCAN (create tables of South Carolina public health data)
• South Carolina State Child Fatality Annual Reports and Data 
• South Carolina State Health Assessment 
• National Violent Death Reporting System
• National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC)
• WISQARS (interactive, online database)
• National Violence Prevention Network
• Suicide Prevention Resource Center
• SC Strategy for Suicide Prevention