Police and juvenile court in South Dakota: ages 10 to 18, the adult-court rule at 16, and sealing a record

According to the South Dakota Unified Judicial System (the state court system), juvenile court generally handles offenses by a person who was under 18 at the time. An act that would be a crime for an adult is a 'delinquency' (a juvenile offense) if the person was between 10 and 18. Traffic misdemeanors and petty offenses stay in adult court, in the Magistrate Division.

Some behavior is not a crime but breaks a rule that applies only to young people, such as truancy (skipping school), underage drinking, or running away. That can bring a young person to court as a Child in Need of Supervision, called CHINS. A child under 10 who commits a criminal act can also be brought to court as a CHINS.

When police take a child into temporary custody, the officer must tell the child's parents, guardian, or custodian without unnecessary delay, and tell them about the right to a prompt court hearing (SDCL 26-7A-15).

South Dakota has a firm rule at 16. A young person aged 16 or older who is charged with a Class A, B, C, 1, or 2 felony (the most serious felony classes) is tried in circuit court as an adult. The young person can ask for a transfer hearing to argue for staying in juvenile court, but the law starts from the presumption that adult court is in the public's interest.

For other felony charges, a judge can move a case to adult court only after a transfer hearing. The judge looks at factors such as how serious and violent the offense was, whether it was against a person or property, and the young person's past record.

In In re Gault (1967), the U.S. Supreme Court decided that a young person in a delinquency case has the right to notice of the charges, the right to a lawyer (appointed free if the family cannot pay), and the right to remain silent, just like an adult.

In South Dakota, a juvenile court can seal a delinquency record, meaning it is closed from public view. The young person or a parent can ask by petition, but only one year after the case fully ends. At a hearing, the judge must find that there has been no new delinquency case, that no serious case is pending, and that the young person has been rehabilitated.

Curfews: we did not find a statewide youth curfew in South Dakota law. Check your own city's ordinances.