Meth Offender Registry ???

The topic of a meth offender registry has once again surfaced in a recent Slate article, found here. According to the article at least 3 states: Tennessee, Illinois and Minnesota have already passed laws to create these registries and I would not be shocked if Mississippi were soon to follow. For a look at Tennessee’s registry click here.

I project this future registry based upon a couple of facts, 1. next year is an election year and being tough on crime is often seen as a good thing for a candidate, 2. people are obsessively scared of meth, like it is some sort of super drug (the article makes some good points about this), and want to punish it more than other illegal drugs, and 3. the Legislature has already shown a propensity to go after the Meth “element” so this would not be a first go around for legislators to think about these issues. For a most recent bill see Senate Bill 2511 of the 2006 Session.

There are two issues I am looking for with this post.

First, is to gauge public reaction to a possible meth registry, is it a good idea?, is it needed?, do you think it will work on some level?, if so how effective might it be?

Second, I am looking for people’s thoughts on registering felons in our state. Does the sex-offender registry work, if so will this registry work? Also, if we register sex offenders and meth creators/dealers why not everyone on parole or with prior convictions?