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South Dakota DUI penalties breakdown: every component, line by line

Our South Dakota DUI costs page gives the state overview. This page does the narrower job: it prices each component of SDCL chapter 32-23 by offence class — the Class 1 misdemeanour tiers, the 0.17 evaluation trigger, and the Class 6 felony third — with no added-up total.

The first offence, component by component

A first DUI in South Dakota is a Class 1 misdemeanour under § 32-23-1, and the Class 1 frame supplies the priced components: imprisonment of up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to two thousand dollars. There is no mandatory minimum jail term for a first offence in the published summaries, which matters for honest pricing — the custody component is exposure, not a floor, and many first cases resolve with fines, probation conditions and licence action rather than served jail time. The licence component is a revocation of not less than thirty days and up to one year, ordered through the court and the Department of Public Safety, and a restricted permit for work, school or counselling travel may be available on proof of financial responsibility, typically alongside participation in the 24/7 sobriety programme or counselling conditions in the published guidance.

The high-concentration component is an evaluation trigger rather than a higher fine band. Under § 32-23-2.1, a first offender whose test shows 0.17 or more must complete a mandatory chemical dependency evaluation by a licensed addiction counsellor, at the driver's expense. The evaluation is therefore a real first-offence cost in the cases where it applies — ordered by statute, billed by the counsellor — and this page tables the obligation and its 0.17 trigger rather than a fee South Dakota does not set in the section. Court costs and any probation or 24/7 testing charges sit outside the Class 1 fine and are described, not priced, below.

Second and third offences, and what escalates

A second offence within the ten-year lookback remains a Class 1 misdemeanour in the published summaries, carrying the same outer frame of up to one year and up to $2,000, but the licence component hardens: the minimum revocation rises to one year. The summaries also record a specific custody floor in a related situation — a mandatory three-day jail sentence where the offender is caught driving during the revocation period — which is tabled as its own component because it prices the decision to drive revoked, not the DUI itself. Evaluation and treatment conditions, interlock conditions where a court orders them, and 24/7 participation are the recurring non-fine layers at this tier, each billed or administered outside the fine figure.

The felony line is crossed at the third offence within ten years: a Class 6 felony in the published summaries, with imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of up to four thousand dollars, and a court-determined revocation. Later felony tiers raise the custody exposure further within South Dakota's felony classification framework. Two cautions belong in any honest South Dakota table. First, some commercial fine schedules circulating online show much larger fine bands for repeat and high-BAC cases; those bands do not match the Class 1 and Class 6 statutory frames in the Legislature's summaries and were not used here. Second, South Dakota counts priors within a ten-year window for enhancement, with a longer window described in published references for the highest repeat tiers — confirm the window that applies to a specific prior with the court before pricing a repeat case from this page.

Restricted driving, 24/7 Sobriety, and reinstatement

South Dakota's restricted-driving route is conditional rather than automatic: where the court permits driving to work after a first revocation, the published guidance ties the permit to proof of financial responsibility and, typically, to 24/7 sobriety testing and/or counselling participation. The 24/7 programme's testing charges are programme charges, not a tariff in chapter 32-23, and they recur for as long as the condition runs — a time-based cost this page describes rather than totals. Reinstatement after revocation requires the period to be served and the evaluation, treatment and programme conditions to be completed; South Dakota does not publish a single DUI-specific reinstatement total in chapter 32-23, so no such figure is tabled here, and the ordinary licensing fees that do apply should be confirmed with the Department of Public Safety at the time of reinstatement.

Sources: South Dakota Codified Laws §§ 32-23-1 and 32-23-2.1 (offence, class frames and the 0.17 evaluation trigger, South Dakota Legislature); South Dakota Department of Public Safety revocation and restricted-permit guidance as summarised in published state DUI references. Last verified: October 2026.

What this state does not publish as a single figure

South Dakota court costs are set by the court where the case is heard, not by chapter 32-23, and no single published DUI amount covers them. The chemical dependency evaluation and any recommended treatment, probation supervision, 24/7 programme testing charges, and any interlock provider's charges where a court orders a device are billed outside the class fine figures. Those components are described as requirements on this page rather than priced as state charges. There is no published South Dakota figure for the effect of a DUI on car insurance prices, and none is estimated here — insurance is mentioned only where proof of financial responsibility is itself a permit or reinstatement component.

One figure deliberately excluded: online fine schedules showing five-figure South Dakota DUI fine bands do not match the Class 1 misdemeanour and Class 6 felony frames in the Legislature's summaries, so they were not carried into this table. If a court document shows a different amount, the court document governs that case.

There is no added-up statewide total on this page for the same reason: the published components above are the figures the statute, the licensing agency or the court schedule actually sets, and the remaining components are billed case by case. Adding them together would produce a number no authority in this state has published. Use the table to price the components that apply to a specific case, and compare the national pattern in our first-offense cost guide, second-offense guide and third-offense guide.

Common questions

What is the maximum fine for a first South Dakota DUI?

Up to $2,000, within the Class 1 misdemeanour frame of up to one year in county jail. There is no mandatory minimum jail term for a first offence.

What does a 0.17 test result add in South Dakota?

A mandatory chemical dependency evaluation by a licensed addiction counsellor at the driver's expense, under § 32-23-2.1 — an obligation, billed by the counsellor, not a state-set fee.

When does a South Dakota DUI become a felony?

At the third offence within ten years, a Class 6 felony with up to two years and a fine of up to $4,000 in the published summaries.

Sources: South Dakota Codified Laws §§ 32-23-1 and 32-23-2.1 (offence, class frames and the 0.17 evaluation trigger, South Dakota Legislature); South Dakota Department of Public Safety revocation and restricted-permit guidance as summarised in published state DUI references. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.