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takyon writes:

In some U.S. states, a drug offense can land you on a registry alongside convicted sex offenders:

But under Kansas law, having a drug conviction means that her photograph and other identifying details are displayed in the same public registry that includes more than 10,000 convicted sex offenders. Many registrants also appear on third-party websites like "Offender Radar" and "Sex Offender Spy," and it's easy for a visitor to miss the single word—"drug"—that differentiates Byers's crime from those the public judges much more harshly. "People who don't know me are going to look at me like I'm a horrible person for being on that list," she said.

Lawmakers have long justified sex offender registries as a way to notify people about potentially dangerous neighbors or acquaintances, while critics say they fail to prevent crime and create a class of social outcasts. Over the years, several states have expanded their registries to add perpetrators of other crimes, including kidnapping, assault, and murder. Tennessee added animal abuse. Utah added white-collar crimes. A few states considered but abandoned plans for hate crime and domestic abuse registries. At least five states publicly display methamphetamine producers.

But Kansas went furthest, adding an array of lesser drug crimes; roughly 4,600 people in the state are now registered as drug offenders. As deaths from opioids rise, some public officials have focused on addiction as a public health issue. Kansas offers a different approach, as law enforcement officials argue that the registry helps keep track of people who may commit new offenses and cautions the public to avoid potentially dangerous areas and individuals. At the same time, many registrants say it can be hard to move on when their pasts are just a click away for anyone to see.

The Kansas Sentencing Commission estimated that removing drug crimes from its registry could save a million dollars each year. Removing drug criminals from registries could also prevent unintended problems:

Little is known about whether registries prevent crime, and University of Michigan law professor J.J. Prescott has speculated that they may even facilitate crimes that involve buyers and sellers. "Imagine I move to a new city and I don't know where to find drugs," he said. "Oh, I can just look up people on the registry!" Evidence to support this theory is scant—and law enforcement leaders in Kansas say they have not encountered the problem—but at the February legislative hearing, Scott Schultz, the executive director of the Kansas Sentencing Commission, said he had learned of one registrant who found people at her door, looking to buy drugs. They'd seen her address online. "I've called it, tongue in cheek, state-sponsored drug-dealing," Schultz said, describing the registry as an "online shopping portal for meth and other drugs."

Also at The Marshall Project.

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