News curated from other sources

Transmitting HIV Is a Crime in Most States. Is HCV Next? Back when AIDS was dominating the news, 33 states passed laws making it illegal for HIV-infected people to have sex without their partner’s knowledge of the individual’s HIV status….

Journalist Steven Thrasher Reflects on HIV Criminalization, Race, and the Press on the Eve of Michael Johnson’s Announced Parole Decision By Tim Murphy From TheBody, April 17, 2018 The story of Michael Johnson, a gay black wrestler who named himself “Tiger Mandingo”…

Chilean Deputy: those who intentionally spread HIV should be imprisoned (Google translation – For original article in Spanish, scroll below) SANTIAGO (Sputnik) – It is necessary to send to jail those who carry the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and who…

Fear of Prosecution Over HIV Non-Disclosure Reduces HIV-Negative MSM Testing According to a recently published study, fear of prosecution over HIV non-disclosure was reported to reduce HIV testing willingness by a minority of HIV-negative men who have sex with men…

Rethinking Criminalization of HIV Exposure — Lessons from California’s New Legislation Laws that criminalize certain behaviors on the basis of the person’s HIV status have long been challenged as ineffective prevention measures that harm public health. They are nevertheless widespread:…

How State Laws Criminalize People With HIV By Victoria Mckenzie Commentators often contrast today’s treatment of the opioid crisis as a public health epidemic with the punitive approach once taken toward crack cocaine addiction. But perhaps an equally stark example of how…

How can we change the laws regarding HIV transmission & criminal offences in WA? The conviction of one & charging of another HIV+ individual in Western Australia with recklessly causing grievously bodily harm by transmitting HIV to another individual has…

N.S. appeal will give guidance for future HIV non-disclosure cases, lawyers say Tuesday, February 27, 2018 @ 9:25 AM | By Terry Davidson The acquittal of an HIV-positive man in an East Coast non-disclosure case will further guide Canada’s legal…

A Look At HIV Criminalization Bills Across The Country By Hope Jackson As state legislative sessions get underway across the country, HRC and equality partners are tracking seven HIV criminalization measures that threaten the lives of those living with HIV &…

Hepatitis C Exposure Is a Crime in Some States; Is This the New HIV Criminalization? By Sony Salzman From TheBody On Jan. 19, Matthew Wenzler, a 27-year-old Ohio man, was arrested in the early morning hours for public intoxication and disorderly…

Women with HIV abused by partners, rejected by society Shunned by relatives, doctors and the community, Ukrainian women struggle to survive and protect their children. by Madeline Roache Kiev, Ukraine – In October 2012, 31-year-old Hanna Lilina, a Donetsk-native, was told she had…

Held Harmless By Heather Boerner, From TheBody Science Guided Switzerland Away From Prosecuting People Living With HIV for Theoretically Exposing Their Partners To The Virus. Could It Happen Here, Too? In November 2008, a 34-year-old African man was sitting in a jail…

KENTUCKY (2/15/18) — A bill that would make it a felony to intentionally expose a law enforcement officer to bodily fluids or bodily waste was approved yesterday by the House Judiciary Committee. Kentucky jailers and some other officials are protected…

By using the word “contaminated” the Mexican Secretary of health has committed a crime, state activists When using the word “contaminated” against patients with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the Secretary of Health Arturo Iran Suárez Villa committed a crime…

Police say false HIV claims over spitting were taken from national guidelines Avon and Somerset Police still have not retracted their statement despite pressure from campaigners The police force for Bristol and the surrounding areas say false claims made about…

The March 2018 edition of the Positive Justice Project newsletter is available here.

A Moment of Outrage with a Silver Lining Betty Price’s comments about HIV spark backlash, while her committee quietly issues a well-reasoned critique of Georgia’s HIV criminal laws by Catherine Hanssens, CHLP Executive Director Back in October 2017, there was…

HIV Criminalization in Georgia  by Amira Hasenbush January 2018 Georgia laws that criminalize people living with HIV have resulted in 571 arrests from 1988 to September 2017, according to state-level criminal history record information analyzed by the Williams Institute. Analyses…

Ontario, Canada Moves to Reduce HIV Non-Disclosure Prosecutions, Leaves Behind PLHIV Lacking Effective Health Care Changes to HIV criminalization laws in Canada highlight the importance of the Consensus Statement on HIV TasP in Criminal Law Reform urging that prosecutions not…

Are state’s HIV laws unfair? Activists say it’s time for change Nina Martinez moved to Georgia from Washington, D.C., in 2005. Just a few months after she settled into her new Atlanta home, she learned about Georgia’s criminal laws regarding…

PREGNANT HIV-positive mothers who do not take precaution to prevent transmission of the virus to their unborn babies are liable for prosecution and face up to 20 years in prison under the country’s laws, a lawyer has noted. Anyone living…