CHARLESTON — The state’s top judge Friday said she will ask the governor and Legislature to convene a “policy summit” to study sentencing reforms in South Carolina.

“Sentencing is a national scandal,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal said during a luncheon meeting at the S.C. Bar’s annual convention. “We simply cannot afford in South Carolina to continue to do what we are doing with the huge burden of prison population, both at the state level and the county level.”

Toal didn’t offer specifics on possible reforms, though she said she expected the study to look at the economic and social impact of incarceration, and alternatives to prisons.

She noted that North Carolina has reduced its overall state prison population “dramatically” while at same time imposing longer sentences for violent offenders.

In her annual speech to the state’s legal professional organization, Toal also proposed:

• Adding three more family court and three more circuit court judges statewide, which would have to be funded by the General Assembly.

State Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, a lawyer who was recognized Friday for his work in establishing judicial screening procedures, said afterward he supports the proposal to help reduce backlogs.

• Creating a task force to study the pay of the governor and other constitutional officers, state lawmakers and judges.

Toal said judicial pay has been a “difficult problem” in the U.S. and “especially” in South Carolina but explained that it should be examined along with the two other branches of government. She said she has assembled a group of business leaders who will “move this issue forward” with private funding.

S.C. trial judges are the most overworked in the nation, Toal said, noting that on average, there are more than 4,000 filings annually per judge, compared to a national average of about 1,700 filings per judge. No additional circuit or family court judges have been added in the state in nearly a decade, she said.

Toal praised state Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg, for his leadership on a commission that recently proposed reforms to relieve family court backlogs that she said have reached “a crisis point.”

The proposals include creating a voluntary hearing officer system to relieve family court judges of certain routine cases. Toal said she would consider proposing permanent funding for the system after a two-year trial period.

Overall, state funding for courts has dropped from about $42 million in fiscal 2000 to about $33 million for this fiscal year, Toal said. The balance of the approximate $54 million needed to operate the state judicial system has come mainly from increased filing and motion fees, fine surcharges and federal funding, she said.

“This is an unstable way of funding your court system,” she said, adding she plans to “work with our friends in the General Assembly” for more state funding.

Toal said more work also needs to be done to improve diversity in the state’s courts — a controversial issue in recent years in the Legislature, which elects many judges. Of South Carolina’s trial judges, about 6 percent are black and 17 percent are women, she said. The state’s black population is about 30 percent and the percentage of black resident lawyers is about 6 percent; for women, those percentages are about 51 and 28 percent, respectively, she said.