For several years South Dakota lawmakers have been cracking down on registered sex offenders, passing tougher rules and regulations for the convicted criminals to follow. But a legislative committee is now looking at easing up on certain types of sex offenders. 

If you have to register as a sex offender in South Dakota, your name, picture, and address will be part of the registry for the rest of your life. But lawmakers are looking at making exceptions, and letting some sex offenders take their names off the registry.

For the last three years looking up the registered sex offenders in South Dakota has been as easy as logging on to the internet. 

"I would say that South Dakota has some of the toughest sex offender laws in the nation," South Dakota Republican Senator Gene Abdallah of Sioux Falls said. 

But, a seven member legislative committee is looking to see if South Dakota's sex offender registry is too tough.

"We're looking at the possibility of making exceptions to get off the list after a certain period of time depending on the seriousness of the offense," Abdallah said.

Senator Gene Abdallah is the chairman of the committee looking at the changes. Abdallah says some of the offenders on the sex offender registry don't deserve to be on it their entire life. 

"We've had examples of 16 and 18 year olds dating, and he's considered an adult at 18, and she's not, and something happens and he gets on the sex offender registry and is on there for life," Abdallah said.

Abdallah doesn't want to call it weakening the laws, he says he is still in favor of keeping some of the most serious offenders on the registry for life. 

"I'm not in favor of weakening or diluting any laws when it comes to sex offenders or crime for that matter, but I do feel we should be fair," Abdallah said.

Being fair to some of those that are serving an online life sentence, on the sex offender registry.

The committee studying South Dakota's sex offender registry will meet Tuesday in Pierre and take testimony from the South Dakota Attorney General, prosecutors, and defense attorneys, as well as input from the public.

Abdallah hopes to have a bill written for the entire legislature to consider by December.