Countries that criminalise same-sex relationships, sex work and drug use have poorer HIV outcomes

Countries that criminalise same-sex relationships, sex work and drug use have significantly more people with undiagnosed HIV and lower rates of viral suppression than countries that do not criminalise, or criminalise these areas to a lesser extent. Countries with human rights protections in place fared much better than those without on these HIV-related indicators, according to an analysis by Dr Matthew Kavanagh of Georgetown University.

Sexual Behavior, Stigma, Perceived Hostility, Comfort With Disclosure and New Jersey’s HIV Exposure Law

Findings from this study indicate that the law may have minimal impact on the disclosure behavior of people with HIV, and is not an effective structural HIV prevention intervention. The researchers posit that internalized normative values likely guide disclosure, irrespective of the law. As a result, the authors argue that interventions designed “to increase comfort with seropositive status disclosure may be a better way to achieve the desired behaviors.

Evaluating The Impact of Criminal Laws On HIV Risk Behavior

This article reports on the characteristics and prevalence of HIV-specific criminal exposure and transmission laws, and the enforcement of those laws through prosecutions during the period 1986­-2001. It also examines the possible mechanisms through which criminal law influences behavior and considers how these might apply to the specific laws described.

Impact of Canadian human immunodeficiency virus non-disclosure case law on experiences of violence from sexual partners among women living with human immunodeficiency virus in Canada: Implications for sexual rights

Study measured the reported impact of HIV non-disclosure case law on violence from sexual partners among women living with human immunodeficiency virus in Canada. Findings bolster concerns that human immunodeficiency virus criminalisation is a structural driver of intimate partner violence, compromising sexual rights of women living with HIV. HIV non-disclosure case law intersects with other oppressions to regulate women’s sexual lives.

Writing for digital news about HIV criminalization in Canada

This study examines the production of Canadian news media stories about HIV criminalization. Through institutional ethnographic interviews with journalists who produce news stories about HIV criminalization, this study brings into view that conditions of convergence journalism make it exceedingly difficult for reporters to disrupt the genre of crime stories about HIV criminalization in which stigmatizing discourses proliferate.

The Threat Lives On: How to Exclude Expectant Mothers from Prosecution for Mere Exposure of HIV to their Fetuses and Infants (2015)

This article articulates how the threat of prosecution of mothers living with HIV who expose or transfer the virus to their foetuses or newborn will discourage and scare women away from seeking proper medical treatment instead of encouraging HIV treatment and prevention. It also explores how HIV-specific criminal transmission laws in the United States could hamper and stifle the progress in prevention and treatment of vertical transmission. It concludes by proposing a model for change in addressing these HIV-specific criminal transmission statutes.

Vertical HIV transmission should be excluded from criminal prosecution (2009)

Joanne Csete and colleagues argue that criminal laws on HIV transmission and exposure should be reviewed and revised to ensure that vertical transmission is explicitly excluded as an object of criminal prosecution. Scaling up PMTCT services and ensuring that they are affordable, accessible, welcoming and of good quality is the most effective strategy for reducing vertical transmission of HIV and should be the primary strategy in all countries.