Legal Question in Criminal Law in Tennessee

In Tennessee law (T.C.A. �40-39-202) the word "violent" is used to describe a class of sexual offenses that are considered especially harmful to the victim in the long term, and is used to describe offenses for which the offenders have an increased probability of committing the crime again. The statute does not use the word "violent" to mean hitting, or hostility, and in that sense the word is misleading.

For example, Sexual Battery is a "sexual offense." Sexual Battery can be as simple as the unlawful touching of another in a sexual manner, for example, pinching the buttocks of the waitress at a bar.

But Statutory Rape by an Authority Figure is a "violent sexual offense" under the statute.

So consider the situation of a mean drunken patron who throws a beer bottle across the bar, shouts curses, shouts lewd remarks in the face of a waitress while reaching around her backside and pinching her hard enough to leave a large bruise, and she has to almost break his arm to get away. Under Tennessee Law, that's not a "violent" offense for Sex Offender Registry pruposes. (Most of us would call it "violent").

But a male high school teacher who sends flowers and chocolates to the 17 year old cheerleader at the school, takes her to a first class hotel, where they willingly and consentually have sexual relations and part on excellent terms with promises of love, affection, and her willingness to meet again, has committed a "violent sexual offense" under Tennessee Law.

The short answer it: Unless the Tennessee General Assembly changes the law, for example, by renaming the offenses "Class A Sexual Offenses" and "Class B Sexual Offenses," you are stuck with a very misleading adjective to describe your SOR status.