Kat’s Blog: Tennessee’s New Law: A Form of Birth Control for Registrants

Several months ago several TN Senators and Representatives were hell-bent on passing a two-fold law aimed at further punishment against registrants.

The first part of the law would have increased the boundary restrictions for registrants from 1,000 ft. to 2,000 ft., thankfully, this portion of the law was abandoned.

However, the second part of the law was passed and it is already bringing in to question the amount of “functioning gray matter” that these legislators actually have.

Here’s the new law as it is written:

                                            State of TN /Senate Bill 425/Substituted for HB 407

By Doggett, Griffey, Littleton, Smith, Helton, Ogles, Hardaway, Hazelwood

An Act to amend TN Code Annotated, Title 40, Chapter 39, relative to sexual and violent sexual offenders.

Be it enacted by the general assembly of the state of TN:

Section 1. TN Code Annotated, Section 40-39-211©, is amended by deleting the subsection and substituting instead the following:

© While mandated to comply with the requirements of this part, no sexual offender or violent sexual offender, whose victim was a minor, shall knowingly reside or conduct an overnight visit at a residence in which a minor resides or is present.  Notwithstanding this subsection ©, the offender may reside, conduct an overnight visit, or be alone with a minor if the offender is the parent of the minor, unless one (1) of the following conditions applies:

(1)    The offender’s parental rights have been or are in the process of being terminated as provided by law;

(2)    Any minor or adult child of the offender was a victim of a sexual offense or violent sexual offense committed by the offender; or

(3)    The offender has been convicted of a sexual offense or violent offense the victim of which was a child under twelve (12) years of age.

Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2019, the public welfare requiring it.      

    “The public welfare requiring it.”

That last line is bothersome, I’m part of the general public and I don’t think my welfare requires this kind of law at all. If they surveyed the general public, would they think this kind of blanket law for registrants was really necessary? Of course not, but then the general public doesn’t get a vote when it comes to these sham laws, they’re voted on by those God fearing legislators in Nashville.

The local registry office is already asserting their power, intimidating registrants with this new law.     

This week a registrant in TN contacted a city registry office to inquire about a change of address procedure.

After the registrant was informed that the new address “seems” OK, (that makes you feel real secure about your new address, doesn’t it, it “seems” OK?) the registrant was asked “Do you have any children?” When the registrant replied NO, he was advised that as of July 1, 2019, no registrants, under no circumstances, would be able to reside overnight in the same household as a minor child. None, no one, nowhere, no way. Not even if they’re your own children. End of discussion.

When one reads this idiotic (there is just no other word to describe it) law, it doesn’t take in to account the fact that there is a boat-load of sexual offenses. There is an infinitely vast chasm between a benign sexual offense that involves no contact and often, no sex, and a violent sexual offense. But in this law, every offense is treated the same, every registrant, regardless of circumstances, is treated the same.  The 3 qualifying conditions which would probably disqualify most registrants (the law continues to label them “offenders”) from being able to remain in a home overnight, does not offer any leeway for parents already existing in homes with their children or for those who may want children in the future.

Like Alabama’s recent ridiculously punitive chemical castration law, this TN law is “forced birth control”, the idea being that if you’re thinking of starting a family but know that you won’t ever be allowed to reside in a home overnight with your own minor children, maybe you’d think twice about ever having any kids. Southern legislators trying to wipe out an entire population, the future children of registrants.

What is it with these southern legislators? Heart-beat abortion laws, chemical castration laws and now denying registrants the right to sleep under the same roof as their own children. Maybe the southern heat has finally fried their brains.  Perhaps they just want to deny any and all registrants the right to pursue life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness if it includes children.

So, what is going to happen on July 1, 2019?

Will law enforcement begin nightly raids, going door to door, checking to see if registrants are sleeping in homes where minor children reside, will they be pulled from their beds in the middle of the night for violating the law?  Will over-night registrant tent cities pop up, places where registrants must go to sleep? Maybe those TN Senators and Representatives who voted for this law, who don’t have minor children, wouldn’t mind opening their homes to those registrants of their districts who now find themselves without a place to sleep. After all, they’re the ones that created this new over-night homeless problem.

And how will the taxpayers feel about their town’s law enforcement tied up every night checking on the whereabouts of registrants?  Shouldn’t they be busy fighting real crimes?

More importantly, are these Senators and Representatives going to accept responsibility for their thoughtless actions, putting yet another punitive law into effect that will have registrants becoming increasingly depressed, despondent and suicidal at the thought of yet one more restriction placed on their lives?

Here’s hoping that there’s some TN defense attorneys with big enough cojones that are willing to stand up and fight this injustice on July 1, when the first registrant is yanked out of bed, away from their families and thrown in jail for violating this archaic punitive law.

Related posts

Subscribe
Notify of

We welcome a lively discussion with all view points - keeping in mind...

 

  1. Your submission will be reviewed by one of our volunteer moderators. Moderating decisions may be subjective.
  2. Please keep the tone of your comment civil and courteous. This is a public forum.
  3. Swear words should be starred out such as f*k and s*t and a**
  4. Please avoid the use of derogatory labels.  Use person-first language.
  5. Please stay on topic - both in terms of the organization in general and this post in particular.
  6. Please refrain from general political statements in (dis)favor of one of the major parties or their representatives.
  7. Please take personal conversations off this forum.
  8. We will not publish any comments advocating for violent or any illegal action.
  9. We cannot connect participants privately - feel free to leave your contact info here. You may want to create a new / free, readily available email address that are not personally identifiable.
  10. Please refrain from copying and pasting repetitive and lengthy amounts of text.
  11. Please do not post in all Caps.
  12. If you wish to link to a serious and relevant media article, legitimate advocacy group or other pertinent web site / document, please provide the full link. No abbreviated / obfuscated links. Posts that include a URL may take considerably longer to be approved.
  13. We suggest to compose lengthy comments in a desktop text editor and copy and paste them into the comment form
  14. We will not publish any posts containing any names not mentioned in the original article.
  15. Please choose a short user name that does not contain links to other web sites or identify real people.  Do not use your real name.
  16. Please do not solicit funds
  17. No discussions about weapons
  18. If you use any abbreviation such as Failure To Register (FTR), Person Forced to Register (PFR) or any others, the first time you use it in a thread, please expand it for new people to better understand.
  19. All commenters are required to provide a real email address where we can contact them.  It will not be displayed on the site.
  20. Please send any input regarding moderation or other website issues via email to moderator [at] all4consolaws [dot] org
  21. We no longer post articles about arrests or accusations, only selected convictions. If your comment contains a link to an arrest or accusation article we will not approve your comment.
  22. If addressing another commenter, please address them by exactly their full display name, do not modify their name. 
ACSOL, including but not limited to its board members and agents, does not provide legal advice on this website.  In addition, ACSOL warns that those who provide comments on this website may or may not be legal professionals on whose advice one can reasonably rely.  
 

21 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

“What is it with these southern legislators?” What these States do have in common is a stronghold of the Southern Baptist. The SCB read and preach the Bible, however, they do not live it and actually, they never did and they are ending up in Hell because of it and at the same time they think they are going to Heaven.

Isn’t that always the problem with new registry laws? Misinterpretation (either deliberately or ignorantly, more often the former) by POs and/or compliance officers?

Every person who is listed on the idiotic Registries should go out of their way, all the time, to be around children. All the time.

Luckily, that is just the normal way to live life. I am around children all the time where no one knows that I am Registered.

I promise that no matter any “law” that these criminal legislators pass, I will continue to ensure that their harassment Registries are not just worthless, but much, much worse.

I promise and guarantee it.

I see TN revising their registration paperwork to ask about the registrant’s family or other, e.g. married, divorced, spouse, roommate, children under the age of 18, grandchildren under the age of 18, all at the house.

Thank you for posting this!!!
My family is effected by this!!!! (And so many more)
We have contacted a lawyer to try to fight!!!!!

Let a legislator who was found doing one bad mistake , commuting a sex offence , being caught and put on a registry for rest their lives , to lose their homes jobs family , no. Vacations no nothing , then to be put on. Street , from each punishing law they create , being told you can’t stay sleeping with your wife even occasionally even when no child is present or resides there , hmm being told yu have to have a vacant room for proof and by that certain day you gotta go , if you can’t find alternative housing you faced with homeless ness , if one these legislators went thru this , what would happen then , oh wait legislators get caught and don’t have to worry about being punished , it don’t exist for them , why cause they make the laws and have money and votes , my family is affected by this law , just like in Kentucky I read that an apeals court said law was unconstitutional and was unusual cruel punishment , because the child you had to leave was Not a victim and that child was not in danger , so this is what happening in tenn too , my hub met many years later and we got married had a baby , then he was convicted of his past life while we was married just over two years and had a son , we experienced a night mare an cont to , my hub may have had a past but it don’t dictate who he is today , he’s a great dad been a great dad to our son , our son loves his dad very much and this hurts our son Big time , and it devastated him when we had to tell him the bad news , worst news 😉 it was bad , he cried and we cried so hard ;( I had to vacate his room and leave it left empty , no clothes no nothing left , as proof , our son went across street to be with his grandma for bed time , and only sleeps there at night , we explained is not punishment but it’s cause of new law that took place and his pro saying that my hub couldn’t for the next 7 years til son is 18 be allowed to even stay with me occasionally to sleep in bed , not Even when a child is Not there and not living here , we asked our son he be ok with it and he agreed to it , cause he said he will get to see daddy , it’s the kids the children that are affected by this confusion , punishments and pain their family goes thru and it’s not right to separate wives and husbands it’s unconstitutional , marriage is a covenant and a right a lawyer told me he said that if he took it to court he’d go all the way to suprene court cause of a marriage right what ever that meant , but it cost us 30000 dollars we don’t have , so it’s a no go , maybe some one out there will get a class action lawsuit going for our families who is suffering from this law they just pop up on us , and punish us more with , so we will be dealing with this Now for another 6 and half years till our son is 18 even though he’s not a victim or in any danger , then govt can’t tell me my son or hub can’t stay livingas a family , anymore ,, something needs be done , I can’t imahine the pain that new moms are feeling and dads being told oh you will have to move out the new law says so , by legislators that care nothing about anymore just voted and punishmvet , I’ve written governor , legislators a heart letter my hub wrote him one and all we got was a already set up comment they send out , like they care to address anything ;( I’m tired and weary and still pressing in and praying somebody will help us all ,?pray the lawsuits start coming in and we’ll win and they will tell us one day our hubs wives etc children can all be a family again !! I hate all they are doing even when people have a past , people can change , but society nor govt thinks so , it’s all about punishment and votes !! ,

More political grandstanding and trying to save face with the abortion laws being past. It’s the go to stuff that politicians who can’t get real stuff done.

I have been wanting to get in contact with other families affected by this new law.
Please feel free to email me- mgregory1727@gmail.com

KAT, thanks so much for such a great article on TN.
YOU were MISSED @ The Conference!
Keep up the great informative and thoughtful articles too.

I am so very sorry about what everyone is having to go through. This cruel sex offender registry is bad enough to come after us adults but when they start coming for the children, how can anyone anywhere think that is ok!! We sex offenders which they label us are doomed for life. This is not punishment but civil! If its civil why do we have to worry about going to jail if we dont follow these neverending rules. I took a plea deal in another state when I was 17, I never had to register in that state as it was 1991 when I took the plea deal. I dont have to register in that state but am a tier 3 offender in Tennessee over something that happened almost 30 years ago. I got 5 years probation and the rules I had to follow all the way back then were not as harsh as what I deal with with the registry I wouldn’t know how it would feel to live a normal life again, to not have to live walking on eggshells, to not look over your shoulder constantly, to not only have to stay away from children but prefer to for someone getting mad at you and claiming you touched their child and no questions asked because of my past I’ll be arrested charged and convicted. I have to live life alone and depressed and sometimes it does not feel worth living to have to have fear in the back of your mind constantly 24 hours a day 7 days a week. I know in my heart of hearts I would never hurt a child at this point in my life but just like you guys I have to live life with people looking at me like I will. I always wanted my own child but because of shit like this new law never had one out of fear that some day someone could just take them away no questions asked. How can we ever move on with our lives living under such scrutiny? It’s like eternal punishment and lifetime probation. But they say it’s not punitive. Well walk a day in our shoes. I’m so sorry to everyone who has to live their life like this and I pray that one day before I die I can raise my head and be proud again and I pray that for everyone else.
God bless,
A true southern Christian!!