South Dakota has a supreme court with five justices, and eight circuit courts with 167 judges; all are elected on a nonpartisan ballot to staggered eight-year terms.
In 2001, South Dakota's crime index total was 2,332.0 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants, including a total of 1,171 violent crimes and 16,473 crimes against property in that year. In June 2001, there were 2,673 inmates in state and federal correctional facilities, an increase of 4.0% over the previous year. The state's incarceration rate stood at 353 per 100,000 inhabitants. South Dakota imposes the death penalty but has only executed one person since 1930. In 2003, there were four persons under sentence of death.