Does South Dakota law allow for capital punishment and, if so, what is the history of the death penalty in South Dakota?
Yes. South Dakota entered the union with capital punishment in 1889. In 1915, South Dakota banned the death penalty, but reinstated the practice in 1939. From 1977 to 1979, South Dakota abolished the death penalty based on the United State’s Supreme Court decision in Furman v. Georgia. The death penalty was reinstated in 1979.
