It was almost an afterthought when a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ordered former Phoenix police Officer Christopher J. Wilson to submit to an HIV test while he awaited trial on allegations of sexual misconduct with a minor. The law allowing judges to order such tests for defendants suspected of certain crimes has been in place for about 20 years, and they are routinely submitted without legal challenges. But Wilson chose to fight it. His first challenge was rejected in Superior Court, but his attorney, Robert Campos, said he plans to file an appeal with the Arizona Supreme Court, arguing that forcing Wilson to submit to the test without an evidentiary hearing amounts to a violation of his client’s constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure.
The Register's Editorial: It's time to rethink Iowa's HIV sex law
When you look at the size of the Iowa Code, it’s obvious state officials excel at creating new laws. They are champing at the bit to add more this legislative session. If their goal is really to make Iowa a better place to live, our elected officials should muster as much enthusiasm for repealing problematic statutes.
British Columbia's Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act to allow court-ordered HIV testing of anyone who exposes their "bodily substance" to first responders
The Emergency Intervention Disclosure Act was passed on May 31, 2012 and will come into play March 2, 2013. The new regulation sets out the legal and procedural details that support the act, including adding victims of crime to those who can apply for a testing order.
First responders are pleased that in just a month, they’ll have more peace of mind about being exposed to open wounds and needles on the job. In the past victim’s haven’t had to give a blood sample, but now paramedics and firefighters can get a court order. Before this, first responders would often go months wondering if they had contracted a disease like HIV or Hepatitis.
Nondisclosure prosecutions and population health outcomes: examining HIV testing, HIV diagnoses, and the attitudes of men who have sex with men following nondisclosure prosecution media releases in Ottawa, Canada
This study was designed to examine HIV testing, HIV diagnoses, and the attitudes of men who have sex with men following media releases about a local nondisclosure prosecution in Ottawa, Canada. The authors first reviewed the trends in HIV testing and HIV diagnoses from 2008 through 2011 in Ottawa, Canada. They went on to explore the attitudes and beliefs of local MSM about HIV, HIV prevention, HIV serostatus disclosure, nondisclosure prosecutions, and public health.
Researchers found that, statistically speaking, HIV testing and HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men did not significantly change after the media releases about a local nondisclosure prosecution. However, qualitatively, a subgroup of 27 men who have sex with men (12 HIV-positive, 15 HIV-negative) expressed their belief that the local public health department openly shares information about people living with HIV with the police. Some HIV-positive participants stated that this perceived association between the local public health department and police services caused them to not access public health department services. The authors conclude that nondisclosure prosecutions do likely undermine HIV prevention efforts.
US: New Study Questions Michigan’s “Health Threat” Law (Press Release)
Michigan health officials are using HIV surveillance technologies to assist in enforcing a “health threat” law that makes it illegal for HIV-positive people to have sex without disclosing their status.
A new University of Michigan study reveals that health officials employ the state’s names reporting database, alongside partner services referrals, for law enforcement purposes. However, this is bad social policy for a variety of reasons, says Trevor Hoppe, the study’s author and a doctoral candidate in sociology and women’s studies.
When clients visit publicly funded health clinics in Michigan to be tested for HIV, they can expect more than just a finger prick or blood draw. Counselors also ask clients extensive questions about their sexual practices and partners. If the client tests positive for HIV or other sexually transmitted diseases, the counselor will provide treatment referrals. They are also legally mandated to ask clients to report the names of sexual partners, which health officials attempt to contact to recommend that they be tested.
Hoppe found that some health officials also ask their clients if any of their partners reported to them that they were HIV-positive. Officials then attempt to cross-reference the reported name against the state’s database of everyone in the state who has been diagnosed as HIV-positive. If an individual reported as a partner is identified by the state as HIV-positive and the client did not report that they disclosed, an investigation would be launched that could have legal ramifications.
At least 24 states have laws making it a misdemeanor or felony for HIV-positive people to have sex without first disclosing their status. In Michigan, failing to disclose is a felony punishable by up to four years in prison—whether or not the person was ever at risk of contracting the disease from their partner.
“The evidence is mounting that these laws are bad public policy and certainly bad public health policy, yet Michigan health officials are helping to enforce them,” Hoppe said.
At the minimum, there is little transparency in how health officials use epidemiological data for law enforcement purposes, he says.
“Health officials in some local jurisdictions are using data they collect for public health purposes to help enforce the law, but they’re not telling their clients how their personal information could be used,” Hoppe said.
From an ethical perspective, the question is whether it is reasonable for health officials to use confidential medical information to enforce the law.
Hoppe interviewed 25 local health officials who manage “health threat” cases from 14 jurisdictions across Michigan. His research also reveals that how local health officials interpret what qualifies as a “health threat” varies. In some cases, local officials suggested that an HIV-positive woman who became pregnant or contracted another STI might be labeled a “health threat.”
“These systems were not intended for legal surveillance, yet data collected by them are susceptible to being used for criminal proceedings,” Hoppe said.
Whether this practice should be continued must be discussed among policymakers, advocates and stakeholders, including those in the HIV-positive and –negative community, he said.
The findings appear in the February issue of the journal Social Problems.
Social Problems – Controlling Sex in the Name of Public Health (2013)
UN Commission on the Status of Women Accepts Statement on HIV Criminalization and Women
The 57th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women accepted for publication a Statement calling for the repeal of all laws criminalizing HIV transmission, exposure to HIV, or failure to disclose HIV status.
Galletly CL, Lazzarini Z. Charges for Criminal Exposure to HIV and Aggravated Prostitution Filed in the Nashville, Tennessee Prosecutorial Region 2000-2010.
Charges for Criminal Exposure to HIV and Aggravat… [AIDS Behav. 2013] – PubMed – NCBI
This paper examines comprehensive data on arrests for HIV-specific crimes within a single jurisdiction, the Nashville Tennessee prosecutorial region, over 11 years. There were 25 arrests for HIV exposure and 27 for aggravated prostitution. Eleven of the arrests for HIV exposure involved nonsexual behaviors; none alleged transmission. Sixteen of the arrests for HIV exposure involved sexual behavior; three alleged transmission. Aggravated prostitution cases (i.e. prostitution while knowing one has HIV) often involved solicitation of oral sex; none alleged transmission. Maximum sentences for HIV-specific crimes ranged from 5 to 8 years. We conclude that enforcement of US HIV-specific laws is underestimated. Fifty-two arrests over 11 years were recorded in one jurisdiction. Over half of the arrests involved behaviors posing minimal or no HIV transmission risk. Despite concerns about malicious, intentional HIV transmission, no cases alleged malice or intention.
Journalist alleges some Zimbabweans are "deliberately infected by their partners who go on an HIV-spreading spree"
A divorced Harare woman last year celebrated when she met a man she thought would be her lifetime partner. REPORT BY JENNIFER DUBE Sheila*, – who worked as a mine security guard at the time – was even happier when the man, an official with a government health department, soon moved in with her.
A Spectacle of Stigma: A First-hand Account of a Canadian Criminal HIV Exposure Trial, by Carl W. Rush
Carl W Rush’s powerful essay on the trial of Noel Bowland and Steven Boone who were found guilty on two counts each of aggravated sexual assault in December 2012 for allegedly not disclosing that they were HIV-positive before having a foursome in a hotel room is published in full below with his permission.
It begins thus:
I recently attended the criminal HIV exposure trial of two young men in Kitchener, Ontario. Each was found guilty of two counts of Aggravated Sexual Assault for exposing (but not infecting) two other men to HIV. They are now liable for a Life Sentence.
Prior to the trial, I had been following HIV exposure trials in Canada and reading the courts’ decisions. To me, many of the guilty verdicts just did not seem to fit the evidence presented in the trial or in some cases did not even seem to follow the law. How does non-violent, consensual sex between adults become a crime? I had been wondering if I was missing something; I wondered what it was that I was blind to. Was I being unreasonable? Did I not properly understand the law or the legal procedures? Was I blind to my own ignorance or bias? When I found out that another HIV exposure trial was scheduled right in my own neighbourhood, I knew that I had to go. I had to see what was happening for myself.
His conclusion, that “Canadian HIV exposure trials are both a symptom and a perpetuation of the stigmatization of Canadians with HIV,” definitely resonates with those of us working to end such unjust prosecutions.
Full Disclosure: Idaho's HIV Disclosure Laws Causing Their Own Issues
On March 10, 2009, an Idaho grand jury charged Kerry Stephen Thomas with seven felony counts of violating Idaho Code Section 39-608 by “transferring or attempting to transfer any of his bodily fluid, to-wit: semen and/or saliva by genital to genital and/or oral to genital contact, without disclosing his infection of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).”