Louisiana Habitual Domestic Violence Offender Registry Being Proposed

(KPEL News) - Would it be the right thing to do to create the Louisiana Habitual Domestic Violence Offender Registry? A bill in the Louisiana Legislature is beginning to move through the process.

How Would the Louisiana Habitual Domestic Violence Offender Registry Work?

According to State Senator Mark Abraham of Lake Charles, who has authored the measure, one of the tents of the registry would be aimed at repeat offenders of domestic violence.

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If a person has been convicted of three or more offenses related to domestic violence, then that person would be put on the registry. In fact, if this legislation passes and someone has three convictions for domestic violence, it would become a requirement that they be placed on the registry.

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Another item being discussed is how much a program like this would cost the people of Louisiana. The answer is that it is believed this would cost between $800,000 to $900,000 each year to run.

Senate Bill 371 has a variety of definitions of what constitutes a conviction for domestic violence. One of the lines in the bill would mandate the following about what constitutes a conviction:

Conviction" shall not include 6 a decision not to prosecute, a dismissal, or an acquittal, except when the 7 acquittal is due to a finding of not guilty by reason of insanity and the person 8 was committed. A dismissal entered after a period of probation, suspension, or 9 deferral of sentence shall be included in the definition of "conviction" for 10 purposes of this Chapter.

What Motivated State Senator Abraham to Author the Habitual Domestic Violence Offender Registry?

Abraham said the following,

As a result of a constituent going through domestic violence at that time, I thought this was something maybe we should pursue. I’ve seen the effects of domestic violence in people that I’ve talked with. I feel that I’m compelled to see this through.

The state of Louisiana faces a major crisis with domestic violence. One of the major points of the Domestic Abuse Fatality Review points out the following:

• According to the Louisiana Violent Death Reporting System, 181 Louisiana residents died due to intimate partner violence from 2020 to 2022.
• More than half of Louisiana residents experience physical violence in their lifetime. An estimated 200,000 adults faced partner violence in the past year, with women being three times more likely to experience severe forms of intimate partner violence.

If Louisiana were to pass a law creating this type of registry, we would become only the second state in the country to do so.

The state of Tennessee created a registry for domestic violence offenders that went into effect on January 1, 2026. According to Patton and Pittman, it's called Savannah's Law, and it is defined, in part,

This new law establishes the nation's first registry specifically for persistent domestic violence offenders. The new law defines "persistent domestic violence offender" as a person who has been convicted in Tennessee of an offense that was committed against a domestic abuse victim and also has at least one prior conviction of that same type of offense.

The law is currently before the Louisiana Senate Committee on Finance.