Thought-provoking new report from Canada on alternatives to HIV criminalisation

This week, our close partners in the HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE coalition, the Canadian-based HIV Legal Network, published a thought-provoking new report, A gender-centred dialogue on alternative justice responses to HIV non-disclosure criminalization in English and French.

Whilst the report focuses on the specifics of the Canadian situation, it provides for provocative and stimulating reading that should inspire all of us working to end HIV criminalisation and other punitive approaches to HIV prevention.

Funded by Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) Canada, the brief synthesises and builds upon the roundtable that was co-hosted by the HIV Legal Network with the Women & HIV/AIDS Initiative (WHAI) and Communities, Alliances & Networks (CAAN) in June 2022.

The objective of the roundtable was to gather cross-sector perspectives about whether an alternative justice approach is warranted or appropriate in situations of HIV non-disclosure.

Given the unique legal situation in Canada, where HIV non-disclosure is prosecuted as sexual assault, and given the interaction between HIV criminalisation, disclosure, and gender – including the risks of gender-based violence and gendered power dynamics – the discussions were grounded in gender-centred considerations.

Since most alternative justice responses focus on repairing the harm caused by an individual and include holding people accountable for their actions, the roundtable and the report raised questions around applying the notions of “harms” or “wrongdoing” to HIV non-disclosure.

Is HIV non-disclosure a harm in and of itself? Or does it depend on the circumstances and characteristics of the involved parties?

Given its harmful impacts, there was a consensus among participants that the criminal law is not the appropriate instrument to respond to HIV non-disclosure.

To respond to the needs of people who experience non-disclosure and account for the realities of women and gender-diverse people including those living with HIV, roundtable participants discussed potential alternative responses, including restorative and transformative justice models.

The roundtable and the report also focused on community-based alternatives to the criminal legal system, notably how to foster collaboration between the HIV sector, the sexual assault and gender-based violence sector, and alternative justice organisations.

Three main themes on alternative community-based interventions emerged from the roundtable:

1. Creating enabling environments for positive and healthy sexuality and sexual relationships.

2. Delivering dynamic, non-shame-based, responses to situations of non-disclosure that depend on the needs of the parties and communities involved.

3. Recognising that an alternative justice approach to HIV non-disclosure must be one that transforms the conditions that lead to increased HIV vulnerability and experiences of violence and criminalisation, all of which must be grounded in an anti-racist and anti-colonial approach.

The report concludes that the current state of HIV criminalisation is untenable and fails to promote “justice” for anyone involved. It ends with a number of recommendations from the HIV Legal Network aimed at the federal government, public health departments, and HIV-impacted communities that primarily focus on creating a supportive, enabling environment for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

You can find A gender-centred dialogue on alternative justice responses to HIV non-disclosure criminalization in the English and French versions of the Resource Library of the HIV Justice Academy, as well as on the HIV Legal Network‘s website.

Russia: Most HIV clinicians support HIV criminalisation

A sobering new study from Russia undertaken by the Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS (EWNA) has found that the majority of HIV clinicians surveyed support HIV criminalisation, with some even believing the current law should be stricter. Those who said they support decriminalisation tended to work at private clinics and were more likely not to question the HIV prevention benefit of antiretroviral therapy.

The study, Attitudes of infectious disease doctors and epidemiologists at AIDS centres towards the criminalization of HIV in the Russian Federation was published in Russian this week by EWNA with financial support from the Robert Carr Fund.

Last year, EWNA undertook an online survey to examine the attitudes of infectious disease specialists and epidemiologists working at state-run AIDS prevention and control centres, as well as other HIV clinicians, towards HIV criminalisation in Russia. They received 186 responses, of which 22 were excluded due the respondents not being HIV clinicians, and 164 responses were analysed.

Of all respondents, 50 (30.5%) worked in AIDS centres, 46 (28%) in hospitals, 34 (27%) in polyclinics, 33 (20.1%) in private clinics and 1 (0.6%) in a clinical diagnostic department. The doctors had been qualified for an average of 13.5 years, with an average 5 years’ experience in the HIV field, and saw, on average, 16 HIV patients a day. The majority worked in cities with a population of more than a million people.

A total of 115 (70.1%) respondents were aware of the content of Russia’s HIV-specific criminal law – ‘Article 122: Infection with HIV’. Infectious disease doctors and epidemiologists were more familiar with the law than doctors in other specialties, and the same was true of AIDS centre staff compared with staff at other medical institutions.

Those who were unaware of the law were provided with a brief overview of its contents before continuing the survey. You can read the full text of the law, and our analysis of its impact, at HJN’s Global HIV Criminalisation Database.

Of all the doctors surveyed, 23 (14%) reported that their patients had been prosecuted under the law, and eleven (6.7%) respondents had given evidence in court.

Most HIV clinicians surveyed supported HIV criminalisation with only a minority agreeing that the law should be completely repealed (23%), reclassified as an administrative offence (15%) or remain as is but with reduced penalties (7%).

Those working in infectious diseases or epidemiology and/or employees of state-run AIDS centres were more likely than doctors of other professions or working in private clinics to argue for a stricter law. Conversely, employees of private fee-paying clinics were more likely to be in favour of reclassifying the law as an administrative offence or abolishing the law altogether.

Notably, respondents in favour of decriminalisation were more likely to say that they were open to having a relationship with a person living with HIV.

The clinicians were also asked about their understanding of the concept of ‘Undetectable equals untransmittable’ (U=U). Only 37% wholeheartedly agreed with the concept, with another 35% agreeing but with certain caveats. Respondents opposing HIV decriminalisation more often than others considered the U=U principle to be wrong, or considered it to be generally correct, but with caveats. Of note, a recently published study found that across Russia only 45% of people with HIV currently receive antiretroviral therapy.

Russia continues to be one of most aggressive enforcers of HIV criminalisation globally with a very high number of unjust arrests, investigations and prosecutions reported each year. The study results suggest that much more work needs to be done to educate HIV clinicians about the harms of HIV criminalisation to both public health and human rights, as well as the unequivocable benefits of HIV treatment on both health and prevention.

The original Russian-language report and the machine translated English version can be found in the Resource Library of the HIV Justice Academy.

Discussion Guide for Mwayi’s Story now available

Mwayi’s Story is a short film about courage and women standing up for their rights that was released earlier this year.

Watch the film

The film is based on the story of a woman in Malawi who was prosecuted for briefly breastfeeding another woman’s baby. After the case, the community campaigned to stop an HIV criminalisation statute from being passed.

Mwayi’s Story can be used as an awareness-raising and educational resource in classes, webinars and workshops.

The new Discussion Guide was created to help facilitators lead conversations before and after viewing the film.

The Guide provides some background and then poses a number of questions to stimulate thought and discussion. Not all questions are suited to all audiences.

Download the Discussion Guide

The film has already been shown in a number of forums since its release last May, including at AIDS 2022. It has now been subtitled in French, Russian and Spanish, and we are also looking for partners to translate additional subtitles if they think the film can be useful in their own advocacy. If you’re interested you can get in touch with us at breastfeeding@hivjustice.net. We will send you the English subtitle file for translation. After you return the file to us, we will upload it to YouTube.

Mwayi’s Story is part of our ongoing work to end the criminalisation of women living with HIV for breastfeeding and comfort nursing, including our Breastfeeding Defence Action Toolkit – one of six Action Toolkits in the HIV Justice Academy.

It is our goal to collaborate with advocates, researchers, service providers, organisations and community members around the world to raise awareness and prevent further unjust prosecutions against women living with HIV who breastfeed or comfort nurse. We are grateful to both the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation and the Robert Carr Fund for their financial support for this work, and this film.

HIV Justice Academy now available in French
HIV Justice Academy est désormais disponible en français

En français ci-dessous

The HIV Justice Academy is now available in French at academy.hivjustice.net/fr. Launched initially in English, the platform architecture allows for content in multiple languages. Spanish and Russian versions will be announced soon.

The Academy is a global learning and resource hub designed to support people who want to be part of the movement to end HIV criminalisation. It comprises three sections:

on-demand Online Learning
practical Action Toolkits
and an extensive Resource Library.

At the heart of the HIV Justice Academy is the HIV Criminalisation Online Course which provides a global overview of HIV criminalisation, useful for anyone who is interested in learning more about HIV criminalisation and how to advocate effectively against it.

With its free and accessible written and video resources, we hope that the HIV Justice Academy will engage a growing community of HIV justice activists and advocates, providing timely and accessible learning, tools and resources, so that progressive change can be achieved in legal and policy environments for people living with HIV at national, regional, and international levels.

HIV Justice Academy est maintenant disponible en français à l’adresse academy.hivjustice.net/fr

Lancée initialement en anglais, l’architecture de la plateforme permet d’accueillir un contenu en plusieurs langues. Les versions espagnole et russe seront bientôt annoncées.

L’Académie est un centre mondial d’apprentissage et de ressources conçu pour soutenir les personnes qui souhaitent participer au mouvement visant à mettre fin à la pénalisation du VIH.

Elle se compose de trois sections :

Au cœur de l’Académie se trouve le cours en ligne sur la pénalisation du VIH, qui présente un aperçu général de la pénalisation du VIH, utile pour toute personne souhaitant approfondir ses connaissances sur la pénalisation du VIH et sur les stratégies de plaidoyer efficaces contre celle-ci.

Grâce à ses ressources documentaires et vidéos gratuites et accessibles, nous espérons que l’Académie mobilisera l’intérêt d’une communauté croissante d’activistes et de militants œuvrant pour la justice en matière de VIH, et que grâce à ses cours opportuns et accessibles, ses outils et ses ressources, des transformations progressives pourront être apportées à l’environnement juridique et politique des personnes vivant avec le VIH sur le plan national, régional et international.

Prepare for action!
with the new
HIV Justice Academy

The HIV Justice Academy (academy.hivjustice.net) is a brand new global learning and resource hub designed to support people who want to be part of the movement to end HIV criminalisation.

It comprises three sections that address three different needs:

on-demand Online Learning
practical Action Toolkits
and an extensive Resource Library.

The HIV Justice Academy was created to allow for training, organising and advocacy to continue regardless of the travel and in-person meeting limitations we might face in the future. We want to ensure that we continue to build and galvanise the global movement to end punitive laws and policies that impact people living with HIV in all their diversity, with a specific focus on the criminalisation of HIV non-disclosure, exposure and/or transmission (HIV criminalisation).

With its accessible written and video resources, we hope that the HIV Justice Academy will engage a growing community of HIV justice activists and advocates, providing timely and accessible learning, tools and resources, so that progressive change in legal and policy environments for people living with HIV at national, regional, and international levels can be achieved.

Launched initially in English, the platform architecture allows for content in multiple languages. We will be launching French, Spanish and Russian versions very soon. We will be relying on user feedback via surveys and our HIV Justice Academy multilingual chat function to ensure that the Academy will become ever more tailored to the needs of our growing network of individuals and organisations working to end HIV criminalisation.

The HIV Justice Academy was developed by the HIV Justice Network (HJN), with guidance and expertise from our HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE (HJWW) Steering Committee partners, members of our Global Advisory Panel (GAP) and other friends and allies in our global network. It is aimed at anyone interested in learning about HIV criminalisation, as well as specific groups of stakeholders, such as community-based HIV and human rights activists, paralegals, defence lawyers and expert witnesses. We hope the Academy will also inspire the creation of communities of practice for ongoing mutual support.

The HIV Justice Academy is supported by a grant from the Robert Carr Fund provided to the HIV Justice Global Consortium. The financial contribution of UNAIDS towards this work is gratefully acknowledged. However, its content and ideas expressed therein do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of UNAIDS or engage the responsibility of UNAIDS.

USA: New report from Williams Institute shows HIV-related arrests in Louisiana are disproportionately based on race

Black men account for 91% of HIV-related arrests in Louisiana

A new data interactive looks at the impact of HIV criminal laws on people living with HIV in nine states, including Louisiana

Since 2011, as many as 176 people have had contact with Louisiana’s criminal legal system because of allegations of HIV crimes, according to a new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. HIV-related crimes are disproportionately enforced based on race and sex. In Louisiana, Black men represent 15% of the state population and 44% of people living with HIV, but 91% of those arrested for an HIV crime.

Using data obtained from the Louisiana Incident-Based Reporting System and from the state’s most populous parishes, researchers found that enforcement of HIV crimes is concentrated in East Baton Rouge Parish, Orleans Parish, and Calcasieu Parish. Furthermore, the number of HIV incidents—or interactions with law enforcement involving allegations of HIV crimes—is not declining over time.

HIV criminalization is a term used to describe laws that either criminalize otherwise legal conduct or increase the penalties for illegal conduct based upon a person’s HIV-positive status. Nearly two-thirds of U.S. states and territories currently have laws that criminalize people living with HIV.

A new data interactive looks at the impact of HIV criminal laws on people living with HIV in nine states, including Louisiana.

Louisiana has one criminal law related to HIV, which makes it a felony for a person who knows of their HIV-positive status to intentionally expose another person to HIV through sexual contact or other means without consent. The maximum sentence for an intentional exposure conviction is 10 years, and people convicted of an HIV crime are required to register on the state’s sex offender registry for at least 15 years.

Louisiana’s HIV criminal law does not require actual transmission, intent to transmit, or even the possibility of transmission to sustain a conviction. Between 2011 and 2022, incarceration for HIV crimes cost Louisiana at least $6.5 million.

“The cost of Louisiana’s HIV criminal law is likely much higher. Even with only partial access to the state’s criminal enforcement data, the trends were dramatic,” said lead author Nathan Cisneros, HIV Criminalization Analyst at the Williams Institute. “Louisiana’s HIV criminal law may undermine the state’s public health efforts by deterring the communities most impacted by HIV, including people of color and sex workers, from seeking testing and treatment.”

KEY FINDINGS

Most HIV criminal incidents (80%) in Louisiana involved only allegations of an HIV-related crime; no other crimes were alleged in the incidents.
Black people—and especially Black men—were the majority of people identified as suspects and arrested for HIV-related crimes in Louisiana.
- Across the state, 63% of suspects were Black and 45% were Black men. For incidents that resulted in arrest, all of those arrested were Black and 91% were Black men.
- In New Orleans, close to 80% of all suspects were identified as Black and 58% were Black men.
Black people and women were overrepresented among victims of HIV-related incidents.
- Across the state, Black women and white women each represented 28% of all victims.
- In New Orleans, Black men were 58% of all victims.
Since 1998, there have been at least 47 separate HIV-related convictions resulting in sex offender registration, involving 43 people.
Most people (63%) on the sex offender registry because of an HIV-related conviction are on the registry only because of the HIV-related conviction.
Three-quarters of people on the sex offender registry for an HIV-related conviction were Black.
Guilty outcomes resulted in an average sentence of 4.3 years.
Incarcerating people for HIV-related charges has cost Louisiana at least $6.5 million.

This report is part of a series of reports examining the ongoing impact of state HIV criminalization laws on people living with HIV. Take a look at our new data interactive summarizing the findings of our research.

Read the report

Why people living with HIV should not be criminalised for donating blood

Preventing the transmission of blood-borne infection by imposing limitations on the donation of blood is an important and legitimate public health objective.

Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, certain groups – including, but not limited to, gay men and other men who have sex with men – have been subjected to restrictions on their ability to give blood.

Sustained advocacy by gay rights organisations in many high-income countries has focused on the discriminatory nature of these so-called ‘gay blood bans’, highlighting significant advances in blood screening capabilities. This has led to a general softening of restrictions on blood donations for gay men in many of these countries – allowing donations with ‘deferral periods’, or allowing donations based on individual risk assessments.

However, this advocacy has generally not translated into the removal of HIV-specific criminal laws for donating blood, nor has there been a call for a moratorium on singling out people living with HIV for donating blood using non-HIV-specific general criminal laws – even though many of the same public health and human rights arguments apply to both the so-called ‘gay blood bans’ and to HIV criminalisation more generally.

That is why today, the HIV Justice Network has published Bad Blood: Criminalisation of Blood Donations by People Living with HIV. The report was written by Elliot Hatt and edited by Edwin J Bernard, based on research undertaken by Sylvie Beaumont, with additional input provided by Sarai Chisala-Tempelhoff and Paul Kidd (HIV Justice Network’s Supervisory Board); Sean Strub (Sero Project) and Robert James (University of Sussex).

We found that 37 jurisdictions in 22 countries maintain laws that criminalise people with HIV for donating blood. Notably, 15 jurisdictions in the United States (US) have laws which specifically criminalise blood donations by people living with HIV, while four US states – California, Illinois, Iowa, and Virginia – have repealed laws which previously criminalised this conduct.

Although prosecutions are relatively rare, we are aware of at least 20 cases relating to blood donation since 1987. Half of these cases have been reported in Singapore, including two as recently as 2021.

We argue that the criminalisation of blood donations by people with HIV is a disproportionate measure – even if the aim of protecting public health through the prevention of transfusion-transmitted infection is legitimate – and is the result of both HIV-related stigma and homophobia. It is not supported by science.

There is no good reason for any country or jurisdiction to have HIV-specific criminal laws – whether they focus on blood donation or on sexual exposure or transmission. HIV-specific criminal laws are discriminatory and stigmatising, especially since people with other serious blood borne infections – including hepatitis B and C and syphilis – are not singled out with specific laws, nor for prosecution under general criminal laws.

Blood donation criminal laws focused on HIV should be repealed, prosecutions based on general laws should end, and instead science-informed measures – such as individual donor risk assessments and universal blood screening – should be relied on to protect the public against transfusion-transmitted infection.

Read the report at: https://www.hivjustice.net/publication/badblood

Advancing HIV Justice 4: new report highlights more successes, continued challenges

A new report published today (July 22nd 2022) by the HIV Justice Network (HJN) on behalf of HIV JUSTICE WORLDWIDE shows that the global movement to end HIV criminalisation continues to achieve remarkable successes, despite the many challenges that COVID-19 has brought.

Advancing HIV Justice 4: Understanding Commonalities, Seizing Opportunities provides a progress report of achievements and challenges in global advocacy against HIV criminalisation. The report generally covers a three year period ending 31 December 2021 where Advancing HIV Justice 3 ended. However, significant law reform developments that took place in the first quarter of 2022 are also included in report’s maps and analysis.

The successes

During the reporting period, four HIV criminalisation laws were repealed; another HIV criminalisation law was found to be unconstitutional; and six laws were ‘modernised’ (i.e. applied up-to-date science on HIV-related risk or harm and/or legal and human rights principles to limit the application of the law) five of which were in the United States.

In addition, we saw precedent-setting cases in four countries and policy recommendations or improvements in four further countries — all of which have the potential to limit the overly broad application of the law to people living with HIV based on HIV-positive status.

While legislative processes slowed down or stalled in some places due to COVID-19 diminishing capacity for advocacy, more HIV criminalisation laws were modernised or repealed in the United States than during any other time period, the realisation of a maturing PLHIV-led HIV decriminalisation movement that began a decade or more ago.

These outcomes were primarily due to sustained advocacy – most of it led by PLHIV networks working with allies – using a wide range of strategies. These are analysed in the report by HJN’s senior policy analyst, Alison Symington.

The challenges

However, too many HIV criminalisation cases and continued high numbers of HIV-related criminal laws continue to be of great concern, requiring more attention, co-ordinated advocacy, and funding.

Our global audit of HIV-related laws found that a total of 82 countries (111 jurisdictions) have criminal laws that are HIV-specific. Of those, we are aware of 52 jurisdictions in 35 countries that have applied their HIV-specific criminal laws.

Another 89 jurisdictions in 48 countries have applied non-HIV-specific, general criminal laws in an overly broad manner since the first prosecution in 1986.

Our case analysis shows that HIV criminalisation continues to disproportionately impact women, racial and ethnic minorities, migrants, gay men and other men who have sex with men, transgender people, and sex workers.

Although the total number of cases has diminished in some US states as well as in countries that were previously HIV criminalisation hotspots – Canada, Czech Republic, Norway, Sweden, and Zimbabwe – too many unjust prosecutions and convictions continue to be reported.

During the reporting period, we recorded 275 cases in HJN’s Global HIV Criminalisation Database. However, when we include case numbers from several Eastern European and Central Asian countries that provide official data, we estimate almost 700 criminal cases over the reporting period.

Notwithstanding the limitations of tabulating cases globally, the highest number of reported cases during the period covered by this report were in:

The report is available to download in English, French, Russian and Spanish.

Acknowlegements

Advancing HIV Justice 4 was conceived and edited by HJN’s executive director, Edwin J Bernard, and HJN’s senior policy analyst, Alison Symington. Alison Symington researched and wrote all chapters except for ‘Global Overview’, which was researched and written by Edwin J Bernard, using data collected by Sylvie Beaumont and analysed by Tenesha Myrie.

Additional input was provided by: Gonzalo Aburto (The Sero Project), India Annamanthadoo (HIV Legal Network), Stephen Barris (Ex Aequo), Sophie Brion (International Community of Women Living with HIV), Janet Butler-McPhee (HIV Legal Network), Nyasha Chingore-Munazvo (AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa), Kenechukwu Esom (United Nations Development Programme), Elie Georges Ballan (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS – UNAIDS), Alfredo González (Hondureños Contra el SIDA), Julian Hows (HIV Justice Network), Deidre Johnson (Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia Coalition), Cécile Kazatchkine (HIV Legal Network), Svitlana Moroz (Eurasian Women’s Network on AIDS), Immaculate Owomugisha Bazare (Uganda Network on Law Ethics and HIV/AIDS), Stephen Page (Nevada HIV Modernization Coalition), Cedric Pulliam (Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia Coalition), Florence Riako Anam (Global Network of People Living with HIV), Mianko Ramaroson (The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS – UNAIDS), Demario Richardson (Missouri HIV Justice Coalition), Sean Strub (The Sero Project), and Alexandra Volgina (Global Network of People Living with HIV).

We would especially like to acknowledge the courage and commitment of the growing number of people living with HIV and allies around the world who are challenging laws, policies and practices that inappropriately regulate and punish people living with HIV. Without them, this report — and the victories reported herein — would not have been possible.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial contribution of the Robert Carr Fund to this report.

‘Punishing vulnerability through HIV criminalization’

The HIV Justice Network recently had an editorial published in a special supplement of the American Journal of Public Health. The supplement highlights the importance of moving toward actions to reduce HIV-related intersectional stigma and discrimination.

Our editorial, ‘Punishing vulnerability through HIV criminalization’ explores the links between HIV criminalisation and other punitive laws and policies that regulate bodily autonomy, including reproduction, sexuality and gender.

What we have observed in analysing the research we undertake – when we document all the known cases of HIV criminalisation for our newsletter and then categorise them for further analysis in our Global HIV Criminalisation Database – is this:

“HIV criminalisation is not only a manifestation of state-sponsored HIV stigma but also a proxy for other forms of stigma and discrimination. Exacerbated by heavy-handed policing and vitriolic media coverage enabled by unjust laws that fly in the face of science and human rights, HIV criminalisation thrives at the intersection of social vulnerabilities.”

Although anyone living with HIV could be accused under HIV criminalisation laws or policies, the reality is that HIV criminalisation disproportionately impacts people who are either additionally criminalised, or who are otherwise mistreated by discriminatory legal systems – or both.

These include but are not limited to: sex workers; transgender people; irregular migrants; people who use drugs; gay and bisexual men; people in prison and other closed settings; unsheltered individuals; and people with disabilities, notably with mental health issues.

We also see people discriminated against on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, and/or country of birth.

That is why we not only cover HIV justice-related issues in our newsletter, but also issues relating to punitive responses to other marginalised populations and identities.

And it’s why we work with a wide range of partners in our work to achieve HIV justice.

Ending HIV criminalisation and truly achieving HIV justice requires much more than reforming or repealing HIV-specific criminal laws – even though that is a pre-requisite and each law reformed or repealed a major step forward.

But, as we conclude in the editorial,

…modernizing or repealing HIV-specific laws alone will be insufficient to address the full complexity of the intersecting stigmas behind both misguided attempts to protect people from HIV infection and intentional criminalization of groups of people (e.g., based on sexual or gender identity, sex work, or drug use). As with other manifestations of discrimination, the ultimate solution lies in equality and empowerment.

US: Enforcement of HIV crimes in Tennessee disproportionately affects women and Black people

150 people on Tennessee’s sex offender registry for HIV-related conviction

Nearly one-half of HIV registrants on the SOR were women and over three-quarters of HIV registrants were Black.

LOS ANGELES – At least 154 people have been placed on Tennessee’s sex offender registry (SOR) for an HIV-related conviction since 1993, according to a new report by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law.

Enforcement of HIV crimes in Tennessee disproportionately affects women and Black people. Nearly one-half of HIV registrants on the SOR were women and over three-quarters of HIV registrants were Black.

Tennessee’s two primary HIV criminalization laws—aggravated prostitution and criminal exposure—make it a felony for people living with HIV to engage in sex work or other activities, such as intimate contact, blood donation, or needle exchange, without disclosing their status. Both are considered a “violent sexual offense” and require a person convicted to register as a sex offender for life.

Examining Tennessee’s sex offender registry, researchers found that Shelby County, home to Memphis, accounts for most of the state’s HIV convictions. Shelby County makes up only 13% of Tennessee’s population and 37% of the population of people living with HIV in the state, but 64% of HIV registrants on the SOR. Moreover, while Black Tennesseans were only 17% of the state’s population and 56% of people living with HIV in the state, 75% of all HIV registrants were Black.

In Shelby County, 91% of aggravated prostitution convictions resulted from police sting operations in which no physical contact ever occurred. In addition, the case files showed that 75% of those convicted were Black women. When it came to criminal exposure case files, all of those convicted except one person were Black men.

“Tennessee’s HIV criminal laws were enacted at a time when little was known about HIV and before modern medical advances were available to treat and prevent HIV,” said lead author Nathan Cisneros, HIV Criminalization Analyst at the Williams Institute. “Tennessee’s outdated laws do not require actual transmission or the intent to transmit HIV. Moreover, the laws ignore whether the person living with HIV is in treatment and virally suppressed and therefore cannot transmit HIV.”

KEY FINDINGS

Incarcerating people for HIV-related offenses has cost Tennessee at least $3.8 million.
Of the 154 people who have been placed on Tennessee’s SOR for an HIV-related conviction, 51% were convicted of aggravated prostitution, 46% were convicted of criminal exposure, and 3% were convicted of both.
Women account for 26% of people living with HIV in Tennessee and 4% of people on the SOR, but 46% of the SOR’s HIV registrants.
Black people account for 17% of people living in Tennessee, 56% of those living with HIV, 27% of people on the SOR, but 75% of the SOR’s HIV registrants.
Black women were the majority of aggravated prostitution registrants (57%), while Black men were the majority of criminal exposure registrants (64%).
People with an HIV-related offense are more economically vulnerable when compared to others on the state’s SOR.
- One in five (19%) HIV registrants were homeless compared to 9% of all SOR registrants.
- 28% of HIV registrants reported an employer address compared to about half (49%) of all SOR registrants.
Shelby County has one aggravated prostitution conviction for every 115 people living with HIV in the county, and Black people were 90% of all people convicted for aggravated prostitution.
- Over 90% of aggravated prostitution convictions in Shelby County were the result of police sting operations.
- Only 3% of aggravated prostitution convictions in Shelby County alleged any intimate contact.
- Nearly all (95%) people arrested in Shelby County for criminal exposure were Black men, compared to 64% of people statewide.

The Williams Institute has conducted research on HIV criminalization in numerous U.S. states.