Tennessee General Assembly House Bill 1200, also known as “Savanna’s Law,” took effect on New Year’s Day, providing in Tennessee a registry of domestic violence offenders, the first of its kind in the nation. The bill was named after slain Robertson County Sheriff’s Office deputy Savanna Puckett, who was murdered in her home in Springfield in 2022 by ex-boyfriend James Jackson Conn, who then set her home on fire.
Women Are Safe Asst. Director Amy Sawyer sees the advent of the registry as a good thing. “I think it’s an improvement, and it’s something that should have been done a long time ago, but anything that’s going to give potential victims a little bit of a heads up is a good thing, and anything that’s going to be a deterrent to abusers, knowing that they’re going to go on a registry and be out there, and maybe domestic abuse will go down, of course, is the hope,” Sawyer said.
The language of the Bill for the registry, which passed the Tennessee Senate April 21, 2025 and was signed into law by Gov. Bill Lee May 21, 2025 states: “This bill requires the registry to consist of the persistent domestic violence offender’s name, date of birth, conviction date, county or counties of convictions, and a current photograph of the persistent domestic violence offender. If available after reasonable inquiry, the court clerk must provide the TBI with a copy of the persistent domestic violence offender’s driver license, or other state or federal identification, and such other identifying data as the TBI determines is necessary to properly identify the persistent domestic violence offender and exclude innocent persons. However, the registry available for public inquiry must not include the persistent domestic violence offender’s address, social security number, driver license number, or any other state or federal identification number.”…