DataSouth Dakota  

*These factors track the process--i.e. the effort and obstacles--for obtaining data from individual states under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and appeals process. These factors do not measure the quality of the data; only the process of attempting to obtain the data.

South Dakota blocked our initial FOIA request, as well as appeal.

South Dakota blocked our initial FOIA request, as well as appeal. They responded with:

“South Dakota Codified Law 24-2-20 allows for the release of certain information on offenders for purposes of community and victim notification. Your request does not meet that criteria. Our agency does not maintain summary demographic data in the format you are requesting and we are not required to create such report.”

"The court system does not separate by subsection."

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In South Dakota, felony murder is defined in the first degree (S.D. Codified Laws § 22-16-4) and second degree murder statutes (Section 22-16-7).

Prosecutors can charge and convict any person of murder without having to prove that they intended to cause another person’s death. Prosecutors must only prove that a person committed another specified felony (for first degree murder) or any other act “imminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life, although without any premeditated design to effect the death of any particular person, including an unborn child” and that a death occurred (second degree murder).

A conviction for felony murder carries a sentence of life without parole or death. Although second degree murder carriers a sentence of “life,” life sentences are not eligible for parole in South Dakota.