A National Registry for Animal Abusers?

There's a registry for sexual offenders so why not for animal abusers? Especially when you consider the fact that most serious violent criminals start off abusing animals and that it has been proven again and again that individuals who abuse animals, often also abuse others.

"You can accept it for what it's worth. There are studies that show that those individuals who commit sadistic and cruel acts; the worst of the worst cases on animals; many of them later become child abusers, spouse abusers," Tennessee State Sen. Doug Jackson said. "They just have a dangerous personality. So placing them on the registry might provide some degree of protection."

Jackson is sponsoring a bill that would require the names of persons convicted of felony animal cruelty in Tennessee be put on an animal abuse registry. He also sponsored the bill that resulted in the state sex offender registry several years ago.

His plan would have the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which maintains the sex offender registry, also maintain the animal abuse registry. The abuser's name would remain on the registry for 10 years, after which, if there were no other related convictions, they could petition the court to have their name removed. The abuser would pay a fee which would offset the cost of maintaining the registry.

Jackson said that the registry could be useful for running background checks on people, just as is the sexual offense registry. Would you want someone who abuses animals to perhaps work with animals or children? He also cites it as a deterrent against animal abuse.

"If you're going to hire someone to work at a daycare center, you might want to check the animal registry as well as the sex offender registry," he said. "It creates another deterrent to those individuals that commit these acts. Your trial is public; your conviction records are public but they're buried at the courthouse. If what you did is going to be made known to society in general with the click of a mouse I think that creates another deterrent and it doesn't take up a jail cell."