This review of literature identifies and describes US empirical studies on the criminalization of HIV exposure, examines findings on key questions about these laws, highlights knowledge gaps, and sets a course for future research.
HIV Criminalization and Sex Work in California
This study analyses the California Department of Justice criminal history data on arrests of people who had felony solicitation while HIV-positive from 2005 to 2013 and compared the demographics and frequencies with arrest data on sex work over the same time period. Findings indicate a clear disproportionate representation of Black women among those arrested for sex work, in the context of HIV and in general.
HIV Criminalization in Florida – Penal Implications for People Living with HIV/AIDS
Provides an overall understanding of the enforcement of HIV criminalization laws in Florida and assesses any preliminary findings indicating disparities between subpopulations. Preliminary analyses found that there is evidence of disparities in enforcement of HIV criminalization laws related to geography, race/ethnicity, sex at birth, or sex worker (or suspected sex worker) status and underlying related offenses.
Women and HIV criminalization
This policy brief represents the view, as women living with HIV, of the current state of criminalization of HIV among women in Canada and the United States after reviewing academic and grey literature, statutes and policies and an unpublished survey of membership. ICW-NA members highlighted their concern about stigma and discrimination in the justice system related to HIV non-disclosure.
Bibliography on Criminalization of HIV Non-Disclosure, Exposure, And Transmission
Overview of resources outlining criminal laws and analyses of case laws; empirical research in the US and Canada; legal and public health analyses; guidance, fact sheets and talking points; policy and consensus statements, and other relevant references on criminalization in a North American context.
Rethinking Criminalization of HIV Exposure — Lessons from California’s New Legislation
Argues that laws criminalising HIV exposure fail to satisfy criminal law functions of retribution and deterrence. Retribution is problematic as laws are applied when no intention to transmit HIV, little to no likelihood of transmission and multiple factors may make disclosure difficult. Laws fail to deter unprotected sex and are a poor fit for acts that include no risk of transmission, including sex and blood donation. Instead, laws cause harm, with discriminatory enforcement compounding injustice and stigma. California’s law reform is commendable, while other problematic U.S. HIV-criminalisation statutes should be restructured, amended, or repealed.
The Intersection of Sex Work and HIV Criminalization: An Advocate’s Toolkit
This 2017 toolkit from The Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) and the National LGBTQ Task Force highlights intersections between the criminalisation of sex work and HIV, noting both disproportionately affect people from marginalised communities. Urges the building of stronger linkages across HIV criminalisation and sex work movements, and provides tips to make advocacy more inclusive, effective, collaborative and transformative.
State-Level HIV Criminalization Laws: Social Construction of Target Populations?
Applying a social constructionist framework that places people living with HIV in the intersection of both minimal power and negative social construction, this study investigates whether HIV criminalization laws are more likely to be present in states that have a relatively larger percentage of socially marginalized populations, finding that that states with HIV criminalization laws have relatively larger African American populations.
Men Who have Sex with Men Who Believe that Their State has a HIV Criminal Law Report Higher Condomless Anal Sex than Those Who are Unsure of the Law in Their State
Reports on a survey of MSM in 16 US states, finding that HIV criminal laws have little or counter-productive effects on MSM’s risk behavior.
HIV Care Nurses’ Knowledge of HIV Criminalization: A Feasibility Study
Identifies knowledge gaps among Canadian and U.S. nurses related to several aspects of HIV-related criminal laws influencing nursing clinical practices. Argues nurses should increase their knowledge of HIV-related criminal laws to ensure the success of population health initiatives and to reduce stigma and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV.