slippin' down the registry slope

every state now maintains some sort of sex offender registry. in tennessee, illinois, and elsewhere the concept is apparently being extended to methmakers.

the meth registries aren't nearly as detailed as most states' sex offender registries, but they seem to be driven by the same sort of moral panic and desire for public stigmatization. this is part of a larger push for instantaneous public availability for all criminal records. even in the absence of state-sponsored registries, however, private firms are now providing such data cheaply -- often without giving much attention to false positive problems or distinctions such as arrests versus convictions.

while nobody wants a merry methmaker moving in next door, such registries surely complicate efforts at reentry and reintegration. no one much cares about the privacy rights of sex offenders; i suspect that meth manufacturers -- and virtually any other offender group one can name -- will find themselves in a similar position. in tennessee, registrants may not even petition to remove their names from the registry for seven years -- that's seven years after they have "paid their debt to society."