Registered sex offenders in South Dakota may have broken the law at least once, but most are obeying a requirement to let law enforcement and communities know where they are.
State Attorney General Marty Jackley says the statewide compliancy rate for registered sex offenders is 98.8 percent. He says currently, 3,695 sex offenders live in the state with only 45 identified instances of non-compliance.
State law requires those convicted of sex crimes to register as a sex offender within three business days of coming into any county to reside. Additional state law requires sex offenders to reregister every six months.
Jackley says keeping the public and children safe is the ultimate goal of South Dakota’s sex offender registry. He says the low non-compliance rate is the result of the attentive work of law enforcement and the state legislature.
South Dakota’s Sex Offender Registry was the fourth state in the nation to become certified. To date, South Dakota is only one of 18 states whose registries have met the national Sex Offender Registry and Notification Act certification requirements.
