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South Dakota

Overview

  • The South Dakota Judiciary is a state-funded court system.  South Dakota’s total appropriation, including general, federal and other funds was reduced from $45 million in FY11 to $43 million in FY12.  However, because over a million dollars was shifted from the general fund to pay for court automation, South Dakota’s general fund appropriation was actually reduced by over $4 million, a cut of 10%.  As a result, while the South Dakota courts will be able to maintain the same number of judges, they will need to decrease staff positions and spending on operating costs.
  • To reduce spending, the South Dakota courts have delayed filling vacancies in the clerks’ offices and in judicial support positions.  They have also reduced funding for microfilming court records, deferred capital asset purchases, reduced funding for probationer counseling services, reduced grants funding for counties for security projects, reduced the rate paid to Child Support Referees, and reduced operating expenses in all programs.
  • Salaries have been frozen.  The lack of cost of living salary increases for the past three years is having an impact on staff morale, which can affect the services rendered. However, they believe that the impact on morale would not have the significance that furloughs, layoffs, or salary reductions would likely have.
  • During FY12, the South Dakota courts will be piloting a new case management system and caseflow management practices. 
  • The South Dakota courts are using videoconferencing for some hearings, allowing for court hearings to be held as statutorily required and in a timely manner.  The ease and timeliness of utilizing video conferencing units encourage enhanced service delivery in some situations.
  • The South Dakota courts have developed on-line forms for use of self-represented litigants and have contracted with Access to Justice to provide training on use of the forms.
  • The South Dakota Judiciary’s probation department has made significant movement with the implementation of assessment funding and implementation of evidence based best practices.  Examples include conducting risk assessments on offenders for supervision purposes, utilizing motivational interviewing, using an automated call-in system for administrative and low risk offenders, following a system of care philosophy, referring to cognitive behavioral programming and paying for assessment treatment needs of indigent offenders. The funding loss of $600,000 (approximately half of the funding available) for community based counseling services, however, is contrary to the procedural changes to increase efficiency and will have a negative impact on services provided.
  • There are no formal policy changes related to the structure of the court system in South Dakota but there are a number of measures which have been implemented to change how the courts do business. Work is being shifted to smaller counties to relieve the workload in larger counties.  Examples include criminal background searches, traffic ticket encoding, and remote receipting. The courts are evaluating the tools used to determine the workload need and allocation for judges and staff in locations across the state. These tools and other factors are used to evaluate every open position for opportunities to reallocate or reduce the position.

Reports and Articles

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