HIV Criminal Laws Are Legal Tools of Discrimination

Abstract

Laws should protect people living with HIV against discrimination on the basis of their HIV diagnosis. Yet, in the United States most states have HIV-specific criminal laws that legally sanction discrimination against people living with HIV. The purpose of this article is to educate readers regarding HIV criminal laws, which have become legal tools of discrimination that are used against people of color and economically marginalized communities. HIV-specific laws are outdated and do not reflect current scientific evidence. HIV is a treatable chronic illness in which daily medication can suppress the virus to an undetectable level preventing sexual transmission. Thousands of people with HIV across the country have been brought into the criminal justice system through arrest under HIV-specific statutes. Despite evidence that HIV laws do not align with science, they continue to be enforced every day across the United States (Blecher-Cohen, 2021; Cockerill & Wahlert, 2015). There are two types of HIV criminal laws. The first type are HIV exposure laws that criminalize people with HIV who are accused of not disclosing their HIV status before sexual contact, sharing injection equipment, or donating blood and organs. Currently, 35 states have HIV-specific laws that prosecute people with HIV for actual or perceived exposure to HIV without there being neither intention to harm nor actual transmission. The only requirement is that the person with HIV is aware of their status (Harsono et al., 2017).