TN- Tenn. may add more online crime registries

4-19-2008 Tennessee:

Looking up names of methamphetamine makers and sexual offenders in Tennessee is already just a mouse click away. The ability to look up animal abusers and drunken drivers may be just a vote or two away.

This year, legislators have proposed doubling the number of crime registries in Tennessee, adding Internet databases of people with animal cruelty and repeat drunken driving convictions to existing registries of people convicted of sexual crimes and making meth.

All 50 states have their own sexual offender registries, and the listings have become widely accepted as a boon to the public.

But there's less agreement about proposals for other registries that have begun to pop up in Tennessee and elsewhere, and about how much crime registration is enough.

Jack McDevitt, associate dean of Northeastern University's College of Criminal Justice in Boston, said there's significant debate over the benefits of crime registries. The information they provide may not be useful to the public, and could stand in the way of rehabilitation, he said.

"The stigma becomes so concentrated and widespread that people can't ever get away from it, don't feel like they can leave it behind and change their life," he said. "From the offenders' perspective, these kinds of lists don't make it any easier to change their lives around."

In 2005, Tennessee became the first state in the country to create a database listing names of people who have been convicted of making the illegal stimulant meth. The registry had fewer than 300 people on it at its start, but has grown to more than 1,000 people today.

If lawmakers pass the bill to create the animal abuse registry, that would also be a first, according to the Humane Society, which supports the idea.

The registry would require local county court clerks to report convictions for aggravated animal cruelty, bestiality and animal fighting to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which would maintain the list. A financial review found that only about three people would be added each year.

The reason for the registry, according to the Humane Society's Tennessee director, LeighAnn McCollum, is that people who engage in serious animal abuse are likely to also commit other serious crimes.

"We're talking about people who commit particular grievous acts toward animals as their first step as they work their way toward humans," she said.

But the bill, which has passed the Senate, is meeting resistance in the House. During floor debate earlier this month, some lawmakers raised a range of concerns. Some from rural districts fretted that farmers could end up on the list. Others, like Rep. Joey Hensley, had broader worries, saying the "whole bill concerns me."

"We're branding these people. We're considering them on the same level as a child sexual abuser, and I just don't think that is correct for all of them," said Hensley, a Hohenwald Republican.

Desire for discussion was so strong that a measure to cut off debate was soundly defeated. A vote has since been put off twice; the soonest it could be voted on is May 1.

Lists' aim is 'shame'
Tennessee's proposed drunken driver registry would also be a first. That bill would require court clerks to report second DUI offenses to the state Safety Department, which would maintain the registry. About 8,000 people per year would be added to the database, according to an estimate by legislative staffers.

That proposal is advancing in the House. On the Senate side, it appeared all but dead in a committee until it was revived on Thursday.

Lawmakers closely questioned Rep. Frank Niceley, a Strawberry Plains Republican who's sponsoring the House version. In the end, they voted in favor of it.

The registry would serve much the same purpose as the sex offender registry, bringing "an element of shame" to people on it, as well as awareness for the people who live near them, Niceley said.

He pondered for a moment the question of whether such databases will lose their effectiveness if there are too many of them, musing, "That's a good question. We don't know yet."

But after a moment, he came down firmly in favor of more registries, not fewer, saying that each list would be of service to whoever is looking for information about a particular crime.

"You're going to go to that registry. No one's going to worry about all of them," he said. "Every person (has) got their area of concern, and they're going to go to that one."

James "Wally" Kirby, executive director of the state organization for district attorneys general, said that while his organization doesn't take a stance for or against any given registry, he generally views them positively, particularly the sexual offender registry.

He worries, though, that if crime registries proliferate, they could become meaningless.

"The sex offender registry has been a very good thing, and I think some of these others would be, as well," he said, "but I don't know if we can continue to have a registry as such for every crime in Tennessee." ..more.. by THEO EMERY • Staff Writer