State's Attorney, Aaron McGowan

Sexual Offenses

The Minnehaha County State's Attorney's Office actively and aggressively

prosecutes sexual offenses as well as the abuse of children. If you have any questions regarding whether you have been a victim of a sexual offense, please do not hesitate to call the Sioux Falls Police Department (367-7000) or the Minnehaha County State's Attorney's Office (367-4226). We would be happy to answer any of your questions or concerns.

 

Under the South Dakota Codified Laws, Rape is defined as sexual penetration accomplished in any of the following manners:

 

  1. If the victim is less than ten years of age; or
  2. Through the use of force, coercion, or threats of immediate and great bodily harm against the victim or other persons within the victim's presence, accompanied by apparent power of execution; or
  3. If the victim is incapable, because of physical or mental incapacity of giving consent to such act; or
  4. If the victim is incapable of giving consent because of any intoxicating, narcotic or anesthetic agent or hypnosis; or
  5. If the victim is ten years of age, but less than sixteen years of age, and the perpetrator is at least three years older than the victim; or
  6. If persons who are not legally married and who are within degrees on consanguinity within which marriages are by the laws of this state declared void pursuant to section 25-1-6, which is also defined as incest; or
  7. If the victim is ten years of age but less than eighteen years of age and is the child of spouse or former spouse of the perpetrator.

 

The maximum punishment for rape varies depending on the facts of the rape. The maximum sentence for rape of a child under the age of ten is a life sentence, while other rapes are punishable by ten, fifteen, or twenty-five years in the South Dakota State Penitentiary.

 

Other sexual offenses frequently prosecuted by the State's Attorney's Office include Sexual Contact With A Child Under Sixteen, Possession of Child Pornography, Sexual Exploitation of a Minor, and Failure to Register as a Convicted Sex Offender.

 

Sex Offender Registry

 

 

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