TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Azya Thornton on Mar 30, 2026

A Tennessee law that went into effect Jan. 1 is the nation's first registry to track repeat domestic violence offenders, but there are holes in the system, according to Knox News. Under Savanna's Law, a "persistent domestic violence offender” — defined as someone with more than one domestic violence offense — is required to register in a public database maintained by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. But if the person has an offense expunged, the record no longer shows up and a new conviction would not trigger the registration requirement. Legal experts say the intersection of diversion, expungement and registry requirements exposes limitations of the law as judges cannot consider expunged offenses in setting bond or identifying repeat conduct.