Tennessee Launches First Domestic Violence Offender Registry in the US
On January 1, 2026, Tennessee implemented Savanna's Law, establishing the first domestic violence offender registry in the United States for individuals convicted of two or more domestic violence offenses. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will manage the database, which includes each offender's name, date of birth, photograph, and locations of convictions, while excluding their addresses. The registry applies only to offenses committed after January 1 and records may be retained for up to 20 years following the last conviction.
The law is named after Savanna Puckett, a 22-year-old woman who was fatally shot by her ex-boyfriend, James Jackson Conn, in January 2022. Conn pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and is currently serving a life sentence. Prior to Puckett's death, Conn had a significant history of domestic violence, including alleged assaults in 2019 where he shoved a girlfriend down stairs, dragged her, struck her, pushed another woman to the ground, and unlawfully entered a home. He faced multiple domestic violence and trespassing charges at that time. Puckett's mother, Kim Dodson, actively lobbied for the creation of the registry following her daughter's murder.
This measure arises against a backdrop where approximately one in four adult women and one in seven adult men in the United States have experienced severe domestic violence. Research from 2014 to 2019 highlights a connection between domestic violence and mass shootings, noting that about 70% of shootings resulting in four or more deaths involved perpetrators with a domestic violence history.
