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South Carolina Violent Death Reporting System (SCVDRS)

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) in 2002 and SCVDRS was one of the first states to start collecting surveillance data on violent deaths in 2003. SCVDRS uses information from law enforcement reports, death certificates, and coroner/medical examiner reports (including toxicology) to pool data on violent deaths and their circumstances into one anonymous database. The data provides contextual information on violent deaths such as mental health conditions, firearm details and toxicology results. This data helps prevention partners identify risk and protective factors, test prevention strategies and assure widespread adoption of successful approaches. To learn more about DPH’s community violence intervention and prevention (CVIP) programming, visit the CVIP webpage.

Request SCVDRS & SUDORS Data

Types of Violent Deaths

Cases include deaths coded on the death certificate as suicide (ICD-10 X60-X84, Y87.0), homicide (ICD-10 X85-X99, Y00-Y09, Y87.1), death of undetermined intent (ICD-10 Y10-Y34, Y87.2), death from legal intervention (ICD-10 Y35.0-Y35.4, Y35.6-Y35.7, Y89.0), death related to terrorism (ICD-10 U01-U03), "accidental" death from a firearm (ICD-10 W32-W34, and those cases coded Y86 where a firearm is the source of injury), and cases coded Y89.9 where the death is later determined to be due to violence or unintentional firearm injury.

  • Homicides
  • Suicides
  • Unintentional firearm injury deaths
  • Injury deaths of undetermined intent

Sources of Data

While collecting data across multiple sources and jurisdictions is a labor-intensive process, data must be collected within a reasonable amount of time to ensure it is useful to partners.  The program is measured on how long it takes to initiate data entry on a violent death and how long it takes to complete data collection. 

Data Collection YearInitiate Entry of Violent DeathsComplete Data Entry of Violent Deaths
20233 months after date of death (rolling date)April 30, 2025
2024April 30, 2026
2025April 30, 2027
2026April 30, 2028
2027April 30, 2029

 

  • Death certificates
  • Law enforcement
  • Coroners

Data Elements Entered Into the System

  • Circumstances preceding death such as:
    • Mental health
    • Physical health
    • Relationship problems
  • Toxicology (drugs or poison in the victim's system)
  • Injury characteristics (e.g., how the victim died)

South Carolina State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SCVDRS-SUDORS)

In response to the opioid epidemic, the CDC established the Overdose Data to Action States (OD2A-S) project and awarded funds to jurisdictions across the United States including South Carolina. OD2A-S allowed for the establishment of a drug overdose surveillance system in South Carolina called the State Unintentional Drug Overdose Reporting System (SUDORS). SUDORS collects and abstracts data for unintentional and undetermined intent drug overdose deaths from death certificates and medical examiner/coroner reports for entry into the web-based CDC platform shared with NVDRS. This de-identified data helps prevention partners understand the circumstances surrounding overdose deaths, improve overdose data timeliness and accuracy, and identify specific substances causing or contributing to death (CDC SUDORS, 2023).

Types of Overdose Deaths

Cases include deaths coded on the death certificate as unintentional (ICD-10 X40-X44) drug poisoning, undetermined intent (ICD-10 Y10-Y14) drug poisoning, or a death classified as a drug overdose death by the medical examiner or coroner that is consistent with the ICD-10 definition.

  • Unintentional
  • Undetermined

Sources of Data

Abstraction for SUDORS deaths occurring January-June is due by January of the following calendar year and abstraction for SUDORS deaths occurring from July-December by is due by July of the following calendar year. 

Month SUDORS Data Submitted to CDCDate Range of Overdose Deaths Reporting Period
January 24, 2025January–June 202416
July 2025July–December 202417
January 2026January–June 202518
July 2026July–December 202519
January 2027January–June 202620
July 2027July–December 202621
January 2028January–June 202722
July 2028July–December 202723

 

  • Death certificates
  • Coroners

Data Elements Entered Into the System

  • How the overdose occurred
  • Routes of administration (how the substance entered the decedent)
  • Presence of bystanders
  • Toxicology results

Pocket Guide Data Variables for Law Enforcement and Coroner Provider Staff

The pocket guide is a quick reference of circumstance and firearm variables collected by SCVDRS & SUDORS

SCVDRS – SUDORS Data Products

SCVDRS data includes decedents who were fatally injured and died within South Carolina whether or not they were South Carolina residents. South Carolina residents who were fatally injured or died outside of South Carolina are not included in this report. Therefore, SCVDRS death counts and rates may differ from South Carolina DPH Vital Statistics and other death sources.

Infographics

Infographics are posted by year of latest included data

Homicide
Suicide
  • Suicide and Self-inflicted Injuries in South Carolina
  • Suicide Among Older Adults in South Carolina
  • Youth Suicide in South Carolina
Firearms
  • Firearms and Safety in South Carolina
  • Pediatric Firearm Deaths in South Carolina

Maps

Data Walk Posters

SCVDRS – SUDORS Resources

Additional Resources

Contact Information

SC Violent Death Reporting System and State Unintentional Drug Reporting System
SC Department of Public Health
2100 Bull Street | Columbia, SC 29201
SCVDRS@dph.sc.gov

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