This myriad of laws, across multiple legal systems, has one thing in common: by punishing those who have HIV, or the practices that may leave them vulnerable to infection, such laws simply serve to drive people further from disclosure, testing and treatment—fostering, not fighting, the global epidemic. It is time to say, “No more.” Just as we need new science to help fight the viral epidemic, we need new thinking to combat an epidemic of bad laws that is undermining the precious gains made in HIV awareness, prevention and treatment over the past thirty years.
Interview with Soffiyah Elijah, executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, which monitors conditions in state prisons
Q&A: Prison expert Soffiyah Elijah on reducing prison costs, drug-related crimes Soffiyah Elijah, 57, is the executive director of the Correctional Association of New York, which monitors conditions in state prisons. The first woman and first person of color to head the 170-year-old organization, she lives in Park Slope with her parents and the elder of her two sons.
Trans Prisoners Fight Abuse – In These Times
Trans prisoners and queer-rights groups protest unfair treatment behind bars. While marriage and military enlistment have monopolized the mainstream gay rights agenda, a trans/queer prisoner justice movement has been quietly gaining momentum. “Imagine being told, ‘You have no right to be who you are,’ ” says Faith Phillips, remarking on her first days in prison.
HIV Disclosure and Criminalization Take Center Stage at PACHA Meeting
Voluntary disclosure, HIV criminalization and implementation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy were the hot topics at the convening of the 48th Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) in Washington, D.C., last week. Other topics of the two-day meeting, which was presided over by chair Nancy Mahon of the MAC AIDS Fund, included the Affordable Care Act and reauthorization of the Ryan White CARE Act.
More criminalization, further marginalization: Supreme Court's HIV non-disclosure decisions create viral underclass |
This is the second in a series of blog posts about the recent Supreme Court of Canada decisions about the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure. See the first post here, in which we wrote about the perverse, negative impacts of the decision for women living with HIV.
L.G. POZ: REGARDING THE NORWEGIAN LAW COMMISSION REPORT ON CRIMINAL LAW AND THE TRANSMISSION OF DISEASE
Honestly it has taken me some time to “swallow” the Report. I don’t find the Commissions proposal to a new penal code very controversial. To me it’s a slight improvement to the old one (§ 155) and to the § 237/238 which never been used.
Think Having HIV Is Not a Crime? Think Again
People with HIV are not walking public health threats, despite how the law treats us. We are human beings and we are far more than the virus we carry. Laws based on ignorance, fear and shaming of people with HIV are the real danger to public health.
US: Scott A. Schoettes of Lambda Legal outlines the battle being waged in U.S. courts over HIV criminalisation in POZ Magazine
Scott A. Schoettes is the HIV project director for Lambda Legal, a longtime legal champion of HIV-positive people and LGBT civil rights. He filed a brief in The People of the State of New York v. David Plunkett, an HIV criminalization case heard by the New York Court of Appeals, the highest court in the state.
Crime and Punishment: An International HIV Disclosure Dilemma
October 25, 2012 Internet links shown in these posts are designed to provide more detailed information if required. This article originally appeared on PositiveLite.com, Canada’s Online HIV Magazine. It is being reposted here in two parts. Read part two: “Crime and Punishment: The U.S and Canadian Contexts of an International HIV Disclosure Dilemma.
Crime and Punishment: The U.S. and Canadian Contexts of an International HIV Disclosure Dilemma
October 25, 2012 Internet links shown in these posts are designed to provide more detailed information if required. This article originally appeared on PositiveLite.com, Canada’s Online HIV Magazine. It is being reposted here in two parts. Read part one: “Crime and Punishment: An International HIV Disclosure Dilemma.”