TAMMYE NASH | Managing Editor
Nash@Dallasvoice.com
UCLA School of Law’s Williams Institute will present “40 years of HIV criminalization and a path to reform” on World AIDS Day (Monday, Dec. 1), an online panel discussion on “who is most affected by the criminalization of HIV,” with input from advocates and policymakers working toward reform.
Panelists include Nathan Cisneros, HIV Criminalization Project director for the Williams Institute; Jada Hicks, senior PJP attorney with the Center for HIV Law and Policy; Michael Elizabeth, director of Public Health Policy for Equality Federation, and Ronnie Taylor, community impact director for FreeState Justice.
According to the Williams Institute, “‘HIV criminalization’ is a term used to describe laws that either criminalize otherwise legal conduct or increase the penalties for illegal conduct based on a person’s HIV-positive status.”
The institute noted that the first HIV criminal laws were passed in the 1980s, and today, more than two thirds of U.S. states and territories have enacted HIV criminal laws.
In 1989, Texas lawmakers passed a law criminalizing HIV exposure, making it a felony for a person with HIV to have unprotected sex, donate blood or share drug paraphernalia without disclosing their HIV status, according to the Texas Center for HIV Law and Policy. Those convicted under this law faced up to seven years in prison, even if they had not actually transmitted the virus.
Elizabeth
However, in 1994 Texas repealed that law, becoming the first state to do so. Yet, while no specific HIV criminalization law has been introduced since then, HIV Justice Network notes that “prosecutions [still] occur under general criminal provisions for perceived HIV ‘exposure’ and alleged transmission.”
HIV Justice Network also points out that “Texan courts have consistently handed out lengthy prison sentences, including for acts which carry no risk of transmission, making people living with HIV in Texas particularly vulnerable to the impact of criminalization.”
In one such case, an HIV-positive man in Killeen was, in 2019, sentenced to 12 years in prison after having been arrested in 2018 on charges of “harassment of a civil servant” for spitting on a police officer who was arresting him for having caused a disturbance at a local liquor store, according to 2019 reports by KCEN-TV.
There are, according to the Centers for Disease Control, no known cases in which an individual contracted HIV by being spit on because “saliva does not transmit the virus.”
HIV Justice Network has records of more than 20 case reports involving individuals in Texas being charged for crimes related to transmitting HIV.
According to a Williams Institute Report from 2022, the state of Louisiana has a high number of HIV-related arrests, particularly when compared to its population, and a large number of people registered as sex offenders due to HIV-related convictions. Other states with high numbers of HIV-related arrests include Florida (874 arrests between 1986 and 2017), Ohio (at least 530 allegations since 2000) and Kentucky where nearly all the arrests are related to sex work.
Statistics compiled by The Williams Institute also show a distinct correlation between race and HIV-related arrests, with Blacks apparently targeted by such arrests and prosecutions at a much higher rate.
For instance, in California, only 6 percent of the population is Black, and only 17 percent of the people living with HIV are Black. And yet, 40 percent of the state’s HIV-related arrests are of Black people.
Statistics show similar correlations between percentage of overall population who are Black, percentage of Blacks living with HIV in that state, and percentage of HIV-related arrests targeting Black individuals. Black people arrested on HIV-related charges also tend to be convicted at a much higher rate, as well, according to Williams Institute reports.
In fact, the institute notes, “HIV criminalization sits at the intersection of two national epidemics — HIV and over-policing. Black people are more likely than their non-Black peers to be arrested and convicted for HIV crimes. They also face longer sentences after conviction and are more likely to experience the life-long consequences of felony convictions.”
Williams Institute studies show that states with laws criminalizing HIV have spent millions of dollars in incarcerations costs alone related to HIV criminalization arrests and convictions: Florida spent $12 million; Georgia has spent $9 million; Louisiana has spent $7 million; Missouri has spent $10 million; Virginia has spent $3 million, and Tennessee has spent $4 million.
In addition to the costs of such laws in terms of enforcement and incarceration, and in addition to the racism apparently inherent in the enforcement of such laws, The National Institutes of Health reports studies have found no association whatsoever between the presence of HIV criminalization laws and a reduction in infection rates.
In fact, studies suggest such laws likely have negative consequences because they can discourage HIV testing and treatment, increase stigma and disproportionately target certain populations “potentially exacerbating existing health disparities,” the NIH says.
The “40 years of HIV criminalization and a path to reform” online panel discussion begins at 2 p.m. Central on Monday, Dec. 1. RSVP to TinyURL.com/WorldAIDSDayWebinar to participate.