South Dakota People Search: A $20 Court Background Check, a Registry That Lists Every Offender, and Vital Records Closed to the Public by Law

Written by SearchSystems.net from South Dakota's own systems: the South Dakota Unified Judicial System, the Attorney General's Division of Criminal Investigation, the South Dakota Department of Corrections, the South Dakota Secretary of State, the South Dakota Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners, the South Dakota Department of Health, the South Dakota State Treasurer, the Attorney General's Identification Section, each read on October 13, 2026 by the SearchSystems editorial team.

PARS: the $20 search, and the request forms

The Unified Judicial System's Court Records Search page describes the Public Access Record Search, PARS, as an online tool giving a summary of public court information in criminal cases and in domestic, stalking and foreign protection orders, usable for a background check on yourself, another individual or a business. Each search costs $20, charged when submitted whether or not records are found, as a guest paying per search or through a drawdown account for volume. Criminal cases are available from 1989 to the present unless sealed; earlier cases are requested from the clerk of courts in the county of filing, found through the Court Finder. The open records behind a PARS summary can be viewed and printed at public access terminals in every South Dakota courthouse. For civil matters the system takes a Statewide Records Request Form from anyone who is not a party, legal representative or qualified agency under SDCL 16-2-29, for a fee, covering civil records from January 2006 and criminal records from January 1989; parties and representatives use a no fee form. The system also runs a civil judgments database that pay as you go users search by name and date.

The registry: every offender, with fingerprints the only proof

In 2006 the Legislature amended the registry laws to provide a public internet site listing all offenders registered in the state, and the Attorney General's Division of Criminal Investigation runs it at sor.sd.gov. Under SDCL 22-24B-10 a registrant's compliance status and registration information are public, apart from the Social Security number, victim name, DNA sample and local contact and next of kin details, and further registration information can be seen at the police station of the city where the offender lives, studies or works, or at the county sheriff; offenders registered on an Indian Reservation are posted from the reservation's information, and the site urges contacting the reservation directly. The DCI has assessed no one's risk of re-offense, says the information can change quickly, and warns that name, date of birth, Social Security number and appearance cannot positively identify anyone, only fingerprint verification can. Using the information to threaten, intimidate or harass a registrant or family member is a Class 6 felony punishable by up to two years in the State Penitentiary and a $4,000 fine. Corrections go to the sheriff or the chief of police where the offender resides.

The offender locator, the medical board and the business search

The Department of Corrections' Offender Locator answered with its title only, so its fields are on the page. The Board of Medical and Osteopathic Examiners licenses physicians, advanced life support personnel, athletic trainers, dietitians, genetic counselors, nutritionists, medical assistants, occupational and physical therapists and their assistants, physician assistants and respiratory care practitioners, and offers a licensee lookup, online verification and a list of disciplinary and conditioned license actions; when read its news flash announced an office closure on November 11, 2026. The Secretary of State's business filing search answered without text, so its fields are on the page.

The voter portal: name plus a birth date or a ZIP code

The Secretary of State's Voter Information Portal, run with the county auditors of all 66 counties, finds a voter registration from a first and last name typed exactly as on the registration form together with either a date of birth or the residential ZIP code, not both, behind a verification code. It returns the registration information, the polling place for primary and general elections, those two ballots, and the dates an absentee application was received and a ballot sent and returned. Because a ZIP code can stand in for the birth date, the portal confirms a South Dakotan's registration and county with less than most states require.

Vital records: closed to public inspection

The Department of Health's Vital Records Office issues informational or certified copies of vital records to applicants who meet eligibility requirements, and it states the rule plainly: by state law, vital records filed in South Dakota are not open for public inspection. Its pages cover fees, eligibility and identification, birth records over 100 years old, genealogy resources, amendments and court orders and open adoption records, and a new Vital Records Services Portal takes electronic birth worksheets and marriage license applications to the registers of deeds. A South Dakota death or marriage is confirmed by an eligible requester, not by a stranger.

Unclaimed property, the Secure Active Designation and background checks

The State Treasurer holds millions of dollars in unclaimed funds for South Dakotans until the owner or heirs claim them, never charges to claim, and says a search takes 30 seconds. The Secretary of State's address confidentiality page returned not found; what the office offers is the Secure Active Designation under SDCL 12-4-9.2, which lets a voter with an active protection order, verified with the Unified Judicial System, or living in a shelter, with a shelter official's signature, have their voter record excluded from public inspection and copying for five years, so that an address is absent from the voter file described above.

The Division of Criminal Investigation's Identification Section processes fingerprint based background checks: a personal background check for anyone wanting a copy of their own South Dakota criminal history, and state and FBI checks for employment and licensing by agencies approved through legislation, with fingerprints taken at a Livescan machine in South Dakota or mailed on a card. The page describes no name based check on another person; PARS, from the courts, is the public route. The Attorney General's open records page returned an error, so the public records law in SDCL Chapter 1-27 is not summarized here.

South Dakota: $20 PARS and a full registry

South Dakota's voter portal and registry are the free name searches, the courts sell the criminal summary for $20, and the request forms reach civil cases back to 2006. The medical board and the business search settle livelihood, and vital records stay closed. Deeds and assessments are county records, listed office by office on the South Dakota county pages at SearchSystems.

Paid people search reports on South Dakotans resell PARS summaries and county records; the courts sell the summary directly, and the registry is free and complete.

County Starting Points

Questions about finding someone in South Dakota

Every South Dakota Guide

The full set: arrest records, background checks, inmate search, offender registry, birth certificates, unclaimed property, business search, and the South Dakota records law that opens every door on this list.