Below are different ways to do your own search for criminal records or do a background criminal record search in South Dakota. To find the free searches, scroll down the page. If it says “Pay Site,” that means the agency or company asks that you pay for your search.
1) South Dakota Warrants and Most Wanted Directory. Search for criminal wants and warrants in South Dakota.
2) Free and near-free searches - listed below. South Dakota offers little in the way of free criminal record databases online. Circuit Court criminal records are not available, except through a Clerk of Court (see option #2 below). What you can research online for free, or at little cost, are: Statewide registered offenders, federal prisoners, and federal criminal court records (through the inexpensive PACER system). Those resources are listed below.
3) South Dakota Public Access Record Search (PARS). Use this South Dakota Unified Judicial System public access system to search criminal histories statewide. Fee per search.
Beyond South Dakota -- If you are interested in a nationwide search, we offer Search Systems State, National, and International Criminal Records. Be advised, a nationwide search will only include one database from South Dakota - their registered offender database. Outside of that, it includes over 550 million criminal records from the other 49 states, plus over 70 national and 5international terrorist, debarred persons, and most wanted databases. The cost per search is $14.95 and results are immediate. See Inside Edition's report on YouTube.
If you find a broken link below, please use the Report a Broken Link form to let us know.
| Inmates | Department of Corrections Felony offender lookup from the South Dakota Department of Corrections. |
| Criminal Histories Pay Site South Dakota court system criminal record search. |
| Criminal Records Information on how to obtain criminal records in South Dakota. |
| PACER U.S. District Court Records Register with the PACER system to search the U.S. District Court of South Dakota PACER system for Federal civil & criminal court records. |
| Pennington County Inmates Inmates currently incarcerated at the Pennington County Jail. |
| Registered Offenders Use this South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation service to search for registered sex offenders by name, address, county, city, or zip code; or generate local maps by offender name, county, or city. |
Do a comprehensive background search of over 500 million court, inmate, corrections, offender, and fugitive records.
