News curated from other sources

On Oct. 5, the Supreme Court handed down a decision with major implications for HIV prevention and public health in Canada. In a 9-0 ruling, the court found that people infected with HIV must disclose their HIV status to their…

Nick Rhoades: “I had never cried the whole time I was in jail, prison or up to that point of my probation. But that day, I sat on the edge of the bed and sobbed … so far away from…

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled on the legal status of sexual intercourse by someone who fails to disclose that he or she is HIV-positive. It remains a serious crime, with a maximum life sentence in prison. The troubling…

Sometimes a clarification just isn’t a clarification. Sometimes the “clarification” is no clearer than what it ostensibly clarifies, and sometimes it changes the meaning of what it claims to clarify. And sometimes it does both.

I posted earlier that AIDS Denialist and LA Private Investigator Clark Baker is focusing his attention on the US Military justice system. Baker’s storefront business, the Office of Medical and Scientific Justice (OMSJ) is paid by US taxpayers to bring…

By Scott Burris The concept of “overcriminalization” is gaining traction across the political spectrum. The Heritage Foundation, which has a website devoted to the phenomenon, defines it as “the trend in America – and particularly in Congress – to use…

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) surveyed HIV-infected persons in New Jersey between March 22, 2010 and October 6, 2010 on the New Jersey law that requires HIV-positive individuals to disclose their status to sexual partners. Carol Galletly,…

The injustice of Jessica Whitbread’s situation hit her during a recent evening at a bar when there was dancing, drinks and a really hot guy who was obviously interested in her.

A coalition of Ontario HIV/AIDS groups has launched a new phase of their campaign to compel the province’s Attorney General to stop prosecuting HIV-positive Ontarians for non-disclosure.

The U.S. Positive Women’s Network (PWN), a national membership body of women living with HIV, is devastated to hear the tragic news that a young woman living with HIV in Dallas, Texas, was murdered for disclosing her HIV status to…

MUMBAI: The debate on making HIV tests mandatory before marriage has been rekindled. The state women and child development department is actively considering the move. Varsha Gaikwad, minister, women and child development, told TOI that her department would be consulting…

MASON CITY – Nick Rhoades served time in prison, including six weeks in solitary confinement, lost many of his privacy rights and must register as a sex offender for life. His crime: not disclosing to a partner with whom he…

By Alex GarnerEditor-at-Large Editor’s Note: I had the privilege of meeting Louis Gay while in DC at the International AID Conference. Louis faces criminal charges in Norway because he is HIV-positive and didn’t disclose prior to oral sex, even though…

Over the past few years I have had the opportunity of people telling me about their HIV diagnosis. This is possibly based on the fact that as an HIV positive person, I have been very open about my infection. However…

Laws should make things better. Sadly, as we stand at the precipice of finally ending Aids, an epidemic of archaic and insensitive laws is stifling our efforts and making things far worse. The Global Commission on “HIV and the Law”…

As the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012) in Washington, DC, presented hopes of achieving an AIDS-free generation, some advocates focused attention on a major obstacle to this goal: the criminalization of people living with or at high risk for…

Publication Title Washington University Global Studies Law Review Recommended Citation Arianne Stein, Should HIV Be Jailed? HIV Criminal Exposure Statutes and Their Effects in the United States and South Africa, 3 Wash. U. Glob. Stud. L. Rev. 177 (2004), http://digitalcommons.law.wustl.edu/globalstudies/vol3/iss1/7

During the early years of the HIV epidemic, a number of states implemented HIV-specific criminal exposure laws. These laws impose criminal penalties on living with HIV who know their HIV status and – who potentially expose others to HIV.

WASHINGTON, DC – Nearly half of HIV-positive respondents to a recently released survey on HIV criminalization say they believe they will not receive a fair hearing in the criminal justice system if they ever face charges for failing to disclose…

The nightmare Nick Rhoades has been living the past four years began after a one-time sexual encounter with another Iowa man, Adam Plendl. It was June 2008. The 34-year-old Rhoades, who is HIV positive, says he was on antiretroviral medications.