Domestic violence entered the public consciousness during the 1970s, and
activists’ demands for attention and redress since then have brought about many
changes in the law’s response to abuse within the family. This Note examines
the beginning of what may become a new trend in legal responses to domestic
violence: legislation establishing databases or registries of domestic abusers.
Though no law has yet been passed to create such a database, several states
have proposed variations of it. This Note examines Texas and New York, two
states in which these databases were recently proposed, as model jurisdictions
for analyzing the databases’ possible pros and cons. It first discusses feminist
goals in the reformation of legal responses to domestic violence and concludes
that a statewide database is a necessary and effective way of continuing the
reform effort. It then appraises the possible criticisms that such a database
would face and proposes a solution based on a preexisting program that many
states already implement. Finally, it delves into the question of cost and posits
that the benefits derived from a domestic violence database would greatly
outweigh any monetary burdens it might impose.