South Dakota Reviewer's Comments

South Dakota’s Sex Offender Registry provides a useful site with essential information. Unlike most other states, South Dakota requires lifetime registration for all persons convicted of serious sex crimes including certain juveniles. Further, sex offenders are forbidden to reside within a “community safety zone”—that’s 500 feet from any school, public park, public playground, or public pool. South Dakota imposes some of the strongest restrictions for sex offenders in the nation. With some modifications, the registry could reflect the state’s commitment to the safety of its residents. 

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Information Provided:  

Profiles include a standard physical description, residence address and offense details including a plain text description of the offense with age and sex of victim. Work and school addresses, distinguishing marks and vehicle information could be added. 

Search Functions:  

There are two different ways to search the registry—by text or by map. In the text search, you can search by last and first name, address, county, city and zip code. The map search allows you to search by name, county and city. Both functions work well and display relevant results. The Text Search results include name, address and a photo. Map results appear as red dots on a map with a results list below. 

Additional Site Features:  

There is a link directly to the sex offender registry from the South Dakota homepage. This website is also easy to find through a search engine. We typed “South Dakota sex offender” into Google and it came up #1.

The registry is simple without many links; hence, it is easy to navigate

Ease of Use:  

Note: The mapping function works only with Internet Explorer. Navigate the map with the icons at the top left hand of the window; these tools work, but other states’ maps are easier to use. A pop-up profile on the map would be ideal. You may go from the map to a profile, but not the reverse; integration could be improved by allowing you to map an offender’s location from the profile. Convenient drop down menus are offered for county and city in the text search. 

Contact Information:  

Contact the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigation by phone and email. 

Summary:  

South Dakata’s Sex Offender Registry provides the essential information needed for an effective site. It is one of the best-designed sites making for easy navigation, no guesswork needed. Simplifying the map features and adding pop-up profiles to it, increasing the integration between profiles and maps, and adding safety and prevention information would make this good site better.