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 the criminal law to ‘solve’ every problem, punish every mistake (instead of making proper use of civil penalties), and coerce Americans into conforming their behavior to satisfy social engineering objectives.”
US: Study finds criminalising alleged HIV non-disclosure an ineffective HIV prevention tool
A recent study published in the American Journal of Public Health by the leading US researcher into the impacts of HIV criminalisation, Carol Galletly J.D. and Ph.D., of the Center for AIDS Intervention Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin, has concluded that a New Jersey law requiring individuals with HIV to disclose their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners does not appear to be an effective HIV prevention intervention.
In the article ‘New Jersey’s HIV Exposure Law and the HIV-Related Attitudes, Beliefs, and Sexual and Seropositive Status Disclosure Behaviors of a Sample of Persons Living with HIV’, Galletly and colleagues surveyed 479 HIV-positive New Jersey residents between March and October 2010 about the New Jersey law that requires HIV-positive individuals to disclose their status to sexual partners.
N.J. Stat. Ann. § 2C: 34-5
A person is guilty of a crime of the third degree if, knowing that he or she is infected with HIV, he or she commits an act of sexual penetration without the informed consent of the other person.
The study found that the law does not seem to be effective as an HIV prevention tool. Although 51 percent of study participants reported knowledge of the law, there was no difference between those aware and unaware of the law in terms of HIV disclosure, risky sex, and condom use. In fact, most of the participants reported complying with the letter of the law for the previous year regardless of whether they were aware of the law or not.
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| Study abstract |
An article by the CDC at thebody.com summarises additional findings on HIV-related stigma and perceptions of responsibility for HIV prevention.
Knowledge of the law was not associated with negative outcomes for HIV-infected study participants. Persons aware of the law did not report greater social hostility toward persons with HIV or experience more discomfort with HIV-status disclosure or more HIV-related stigma. On the other hand, those who were not aware of the law perceived more social hostility toward HIV-infected persons, experienced greater HIV-related stigma, and were less comfortable with HIV-status disclosure.
The 479 study participants, who were aged 19 to 66 years, were 45 percent female and were approximately 66 percent African American, 16 percent Hispanic, and 13 percent Caucasian. When the researchers questioned them about responsibility for HIV prevention, 90 percent believed that an HIV-infected person bore at least half of the responsibility for ensuring that their seronegative partners did not contract the disease through sex, and 34 percent felt the HIV-infected person had the full responsibility.
Given that there were no differences in behaviours or attitudes towards HIV disclosure, safer sex or responsibility for HIV prevention between those aware of the law or not, and the very high risk of human rights violations and miscarriages of justice in the application of HIV disclosure laws, the study’s findings strongly suggest that HIV-specific criminal statutes criminalising HIV non-disclosure without consideration of actual risk and harm, and proof of a suitably culpable state of mind are bad laws that should be repealed.
Change in Law on Epidemics will mean that HIV-positive individuals are not automatically criminals [in German]
HIV-Positive sind nicht automatisch Täter Das Parlament entschärft die Strafbarkeit bei Übertragungen von HIV. Die Aids-Hilfe Schweiz begrüsst den Entscheid, fordert aber eine weiter gehende Entkriminalisierung von Menschen mit HIV. Aids-Experten und Juristen kritisieren schon lange, dass das Strafrecht HIV-positive Menschen kriminalisiere.
Medical College of Wisconsin Study Finds Awareness of New Jersey HIV Exposure Law is Not Associated With Reduced Sexual Risk Behavior
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, J.D.
Love gone wrong shouldn't mean jail, says HIV-positive woman
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.
Plenary Session 2: Seminar on HIV Criminalisation, Berlin, 20 September 2012 (EATG/DAH/IPPF/HIV in Europe)
Introduction by Co-chairs, Ton Coenen (HIV in Europe) and Lisa Power (Terrence Higgins Trust)
– Louis Gay (Norwegian HIV Patient Network): From accused to activist
– Kim Fangen (Norwegian Law Commission): Reforming the ‘HIV paragraph’ in Norway – lessons learned
– Matthew Weait (Professor of Law and Policy, Birkbeck College, University of London): Nordic advocacy research project – lessons learned
– Carsten Schatz (Board Member, DAH): DAH Position Paper – content and lessons learned
– Lucy Stackpool Moore (IPPF, London), Marielle Nakunzi (RFSU, Sweden) & Kevin Osborne (IPPF, London): ‘Criminalise Hate, Not HIV’: IPPF’s media strategy and advocacy approaches and lessons learned from Sweden
– Q&A / discussion
Video produced by Nicholas Feustel, georgetown media, for the HIV Justice Network
Plenary Session 3: Seminar on HIV Criminalisation, Berlin, 20 September 2012 (EATG/DAH/IPPF/HIV in Europe)
Workshop Summaries
– Susan Timberlake (UNAIDS): Workshop 1 – How to advocate for prosecutorial guidelines
– Holger Wicht (DAH): Workshop 2 – Better laws through science (Austria/Germany/Switzerland)
– Lucy Stackpool-Moore (IPPF): Workshop 3 – Filling the evidence gaps
– Peter Wiessner (EATG): Workshop 4 – Understanding and creating linkages between HIV criminalisation and punitive laws and policies affecting key populations
Q&A Session
– Ton Coenen (HIV in Europe, Netherlands)
– Nikos Dedes (EATG, Greece)
– Arwel Jones (Crown Prosecutions Service, England & Wales)
– Petra Bayr (Parliamentarian, Austria)
– Timur Abdullaev (EATG, Uzbekistan)
Next steps
– Silke Klumb (DAH)
– Peter Wiessner (EATG)
– Kevin Osborne (IPPF)
– Ton Coenen (HIV in Europe)
Video produced by Nicholas Feustel, georgetown media, for the HIV Justice Network
Poll results show strong favor toward having the state HIV law
GENESEE COUNTY, MI — The poll results are in for a recent poll that asked MLive readers what they thought of a state law that was put in the spot light. The law, MCL 333.5210, states that anyone diagnosed with AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) or who knows they are infected with HIV and does not inform a sexual partner is guilty of a felony.
Should courts force those with HIV to tell their sex partners?
The advances in HIV-AIDS treatment in the last decade have been nothing short of amazing, transforming the virus from what was once a death sentence to what is now a manageable disease. Antiretroviral medications keep levels of the virus in carriers so low, they are often almost undetectable, greatly reducing the risk of ever passing the virus on to sexual partners.
U.S. Positive Women's Network devastated by murder of HIV-positive woman in Dallas
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 a partner. PWN calls for immediate action to eliminate HIV stigma and violence against women living with HIV.