THE EARLY RESULTS of Attorney General Henry McMaster’s effort to crack down on domestic violence by training private attorneys to help prosecute some of the less serious cases is extremely encouraging. The State’s Rick Brundrett reports that in its first year, the program has resulted in 247 guilty pleas or verdicts.

That’s impressive not just because it represents a 70 percent success rate, but also because many cases might never have made it to trial before the program was implemented. The numbers should only improve as the volunteer prosecutors clear out the backlog of older cases that were made before the state started offering training to help police gather better evidence.

The program, which is operating in Richland, Kershaw and Orangeburg counties, makes victims feel more confident about pressing charges. And by getting batterers into counseling programs, it should eventually reduce the number of more serious domestic violence incidents in a state that leads the nation in such cases.

Mr. McMaster is to be commended for putting together this program, as are the 63 lawyers who have so far signed up to complete a state training program and volunteer their time to help. We look forward to the expansion of the program into other counties. More than that, we look forward to the time when all the various programs and laws come together and start making a dent in what Mr. McMaster appropriately calls “the number one crime problem in South Carolina.”