Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T22:00:02.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Evaluating the Impact of Criminal Laws on HIV Risk Behavior

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Zita Lazzarini ,
Sarah Bray  and
Scott Burris
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Criminal law is one of the regulatory tools being used in the United States to influence risk behavior by people who have HIV/AIDS. Several different types of laws have been or could be used in this way These include:

  • HIV-specific exposure and transmission laws — i.e., laws that explicitly mention and exclusively apply to conduct by people with HIV;

  • public health statutes prohibiting conduct that would expose others to communicable diseases and/or sexually transmitted diseases (STDs); and

  • general criminal laws governing attempted murder and assault.

Type
Article
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 30 , Issue 2 , Summer 2002 , pp. 239 - 253
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

For discussions in the legal literature, see Hodge, J.G. Gostin, L.O., “Handling Cases of Willful Exposure Through HIV Partner Counseling and Referral Services,” Women's Rights Law Reporter, 23 (2001): 45–62; Sullivan, K. Field, M., “AIDS and the Coercive Power of the State,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 23 (1988): 139–97; Shriver, C.M., “State Approaches to Criminalizing the Exposure of HIV: Problems in Statutory Construction, Constitutionality and Implications,” Northern Illinois University Law Review, 21 (2001): 319–53; Mosiello, J., “Why the Intentional Sexual Transmission of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) Should Be Criminalized Through the Use of Specific HIV Criminal Statutes,” New York Law School Journal of Human Rights, 15 (1999): 595–624;. Chambers, D.L., “Gay Men, AIDS, and the Code of the Condom,” Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review, 29 (1994): 353–85; Hermann, D.H.J., “Criminalizing Conduct Related to HIV Transmission,” Saint Louis University Public Law Review, 9 (1990): 351–78; Schultz, G.P. Parmenter, C.A., “Medical Necessity, AIDS, and the Law,” Saint Louis University Public Law Review, 9 (1990): 379–419; Gostin, L., “The Politics of AIDS: Compulsory State Powers, Public Health, and Civil Liberties,” Ohio State Law Journal, 49 (1989): 1017–58; Schultz, G., “AIDS: Public Health and the Criminal Law,” Saint Louis University Public Law Review, 7 (1988): 65–113; Closen, M.L.et al., “Discussion: Criminalization of an Epidemic: HIV-AIDS and Criminal Exposure Laws,” Arkansas Law Review, 46 (1994): 921–83; Markus, M., “A Treatment for the Disease: Criminal HIV Transmission/Exposure Laws,” Nova Law Review, 23 (1999): 847–79.Google Scholar
Rotheram-Borus, M.J. Newman, P.A. Etzel, M.A., “Effective Detection of HIV,” Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 25, suppl. 2 (2000): S105–14, at S106;. Altman, L.K., “Many in US with HIV Don't Know It or Seek Care,” New York Times, February 26, 2002, A22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marks, G. Burris, S. Peterman, T., “Reducing Sexual Transmission of HIV from Those Who Know They Are Infected: The Need for Personal and Collective Responsibility,” AIDS, 13 (1999): 297–306; Marks, G. Crepaz, N., “HIV-Positive Men's Sexual Practices in the Context of Self-Disclosure of HIV Status,” Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 27 (2001): 79–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blankenship, K.M. Bray, S.J. Merson, M.H., “Structural Interventions in Public Health,” AIDS, 14, suppl. 1 (2000): S11–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bayer, R. Fairchild-Carino, A., “AIDS and the Limits of Control: Public Health Orders, Quarantine, and Recalcitrant Behavior,” American Journal of Public Health, 83 (1993): 1471–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Model Penal Code §§ 2.01, 2.02 (2000).Google Scholar
Id. § 202(c).Google Scholar
Hermann, , supra note 1, at 359–60.Google Scholar
Sullivan, Field, , supra note 1; Gostin, , supra note 1.Google Scholar
Wis. Stat. § 939.622 (2001).Google Scholar
Colo. Rev. Stat. § 18-7-201.7 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ind. Code Ann. § 35-42-2-6(c) (Michie 2001); La. Rev. Stat. § 14:43.5 (2000).Google Scholar
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2907.25 (Anderson 2002).Google Scholar
Ohio Rev. Code Ann. § 2907.24 (Anderson 2002).Google Scholar
Lazzarini, Z.et al., “Criminal Law and HIV Transmission: Criminal Law as a Structural Intervention to Regulate Behavior.” Paper presented at National HIV Prevention Conference, Atlanta, August 13–15, 2001.Google Scholar
Dalton, H.L., “Criminal Law,” in Burris, S. Dalton, H.L. Miller, J.L., eds., AIDS Law Today: A New Guide for the Public (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993): 242–62.Google Scholar
Ala. Code § 22–11A-21c (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Md. Code Ann., Public Health § 18–601 (2001).Google Scholar
See, for example, New York Society of Surgeons v. Axelrod, 572 N.E.2d 605 (N.Y. 1991) (holding that HIV is not a sexually transmitted disease under New York law).Google Scholar
See Mont. Code Ann. § 50-18-112 (2001): “A person infected with a sexually transmitted disease may not knowingly expose another person to infection.” HIV is defined as an STD in Mont. Code Ann. § 50-18-101 (2000). The states in which the general exposure law is applicable to HIV by statutory definition, regulation, or case law are California, Florida, Montana, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Washington. Of these, Montana, New York, and Utah have no HIV-specific statute that applies to acts that would not be crimes if committed by persons without HIV.Google Scholar
Ala. Admin. Code r. 420-4-1-.03 (2001).Google Scholar
Cal. Health & Safety Code § 120291(a).Google Scholar
720 Ill. Comp. Stat. Ann. § 5/12-16.2 (2001) (emphasis added).Google Scholar
Id. See also Md. Code Ann., Health — General § 18–601.1(a) (2001) (prohibiting undefined “transfer” of HIV).Google Scholar
Ind. Code Ann. § 16-41-14-17 (Michie 2000); Ind. Code Ann. § 35-42-1-7 (West 2000).Google Scholar
Dennis, D., “HIV Screening & Discrimination: The Federal Example,” in Burris, S. Dalton, H.L. Miller, J.L., eds., AIDS Law Today: A New Guide for the Public (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1993): 187–215.Google Scholar
Panossian, A.A.et al., “Criminalization of Perinatal HIV Transmission,” Journal of Legal Medicine, 19 (1988): 223–55; Hunter, N.D., “Women and HIV Disease,” AIDS Agenda: Emerging Issues in Civil Rights, 5 (1992): 27–30; Sprintz, H., “The Criminalization of Perinatal AIDS Transmission,” Health Matrix, 3 (Summer 1993): 495–537. See Shriver, , supra note 1;. Elliot, R., “Perinatal Transmission: A Separate Issue,” Criminal Law & HIV/AIDS: Final Report (Montreal: Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and Canadian AIDS Society, 1997), available at <http://www.aidslaw.ca/Maincontent/issues/criminallaw/finalreports/CRFR-COVER.html>.CrossRef.>Google Scholar
Okla. Stat. tit. 21 § 1192.1 (2002) states: “It shall be unlawful for any person knowing that he or she has Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) or is a carrier of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and with intent to infect another, to engage in conduct reasonably likely to result in the transfer of the person's own blood, bodily fluids containing visible blood, semen, or vaginal secretions into the bloodstream of another, or through the skin or other membranes of another person, except during in utero transmission of blood or bodily fluids …” (emphasis added).Google Scholar
Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.012 (1994).Google Scholar
Lazzarini, Z.et al., “State Efforts to Reduce Perinatal HIV Transmission,” Abstract No. 44105, Proceedings of the XII International Conference on AIDS, Geneva, Switzerland, June 28-July 3, 1998 (1998): At 959.Google Scholar
Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, Punishing Women for Their Behavior During Pregnancy: An Approach That Undermines Women's Health and Children's Interests (September 11, 2000), at <http://www.crlp.org/pub_art_punwom.html>..' href=https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Center+for+Reproductive+Law+and+Policy,+Punishing+Women+for+Their+Behavior+During+Pregnancy:+An+Approach+That+Undermines+Women's+Health+and+Children's+Interests+(September+11,+2000),+at+.>Google Scholar
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “Cluster of HIV-Positive Young Women — New York. 1997–1998,” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 48, no. 20 (1999): 413–16 (Williams case, more than forty women identified as having been sexually exposed to HIV by the defendant, thirteen infected). See also Gottfried, R.N., “Lessons from Chautauqua County,” Albany Law Review, 61 (1998): 1079–90.Google Scholar
Associated Press, “Father Is Accused of Injecting Son with HIV-Infected Blood,” Los Angeles Times, April 24, 1998, at A3 (Stewart case, father accused of injecting son to avoid child support).Google Scholar
Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 22.012 (1994).Google Scholar
See, for example, Marks, Crepaz, , supra note 3.Google Scholar
See Federal Bureau of Investigation, “Section IV: Persons Arrested. Table 29,” Crime in the United States — 1999 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2000), for statistics on other crimes. Marks, Crepaz, , supra note 3, for comparison to identified HIV exposure or transmission prosecutions.Google Scholar
Marks, Burris, Peterman, , supra note 3.Google Scholar
Day, S., “Sex Workers and the Control of Sexually Transmitted Disease,” Genitourinary Medicine, 73 (1997): 161–68; Elifson, K.W., “HIV Seroprevalence and Risk Factors among Clients of Female and Male Prostitutes,” Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 20 (1999): 195–200; Estebanez, P., “HIV and Female Sex Workers,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization, 71 (1993): 397–412; Rosenberg, M.J., “Prostitutes and AIDS: A Health Department Priority?,” American Journal of Public Health, 78 (1988): 418–23.Google Scholar
Mutter, R.C., “Evidence of Intraprison Spread of HIV Infection,” Archives of Internal Medicine, 154 (1994): 793–95; Mahon, N., “New York Inmates' HIV Risk Behaviors: The Implications for Prevention Policy and Programs,” American Journal of Public Health, 86 (1996): 1211–15; Brewer, T.F., “Transmission of HIV-1 within a Statewide Prison System,” AIDS, 2 (1988): 363–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollack, H., “Health Care Delivery Strategies for Criminal Offenders,” Journal of Health Care Finance, 26 (1999): 63–77; Bellis, D.J., “Reduction of AIDS Risk among 41 Heroin Addicted Female Street Prostitutes: Effects of Free Methadone Maintenance,” Journal of Addictive Diseases, 12 (1993): 7–23.Google Scholar
Tyler, T., Why People Obey the Law (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990);. Tyler, T.R., “Public Trust and Confidence in Legal Authorities: What Do Majority and Minority Group Members Want from the Law and Legal Institutions?,” Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 19 (2001): 215–35.Google Scholar
Chambers, , supra note 1.Google Scholar
Bayer, R., Private Acts, Social Consequences: AIDS and the Politics of Public Health (New York: The Free Press, 1989); Etzioni, A., “HIV Sufferers Have a Responsibility,” Time, December 13, 1993, at 100.Google Scholar
Tyler, T.R., “Public Trust and Confidence in Legal Authorities,” supra note 41.Google Scholar
See Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, supra note 32, for epidemiologic report. But see Wypijewski, J., “The Secret Sharer,” Harper's Magazine, 297, no. 1778 (July 1, 1998): Beginning on 35, for consideration of local response to issues of sex, race, and denial around the HIV epidemic.Google Scholar
Dalton, , supra note 16 Hermann, , supra note 1.Google Scholar
Zimring, F.E. Hawkins, G.J., Deterrence: The Legal Threat in Crime Control (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973); Becker, G., “Crime and Punishment: An Economic Approach,” Journal of Political Economy, 76 (1968): 169–217.Google Scholar
Etzioni, A., “Social Norms: Internalization, Persuasion, and History,” Law and Society Review, 34 (2000): 157–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gostin, , supra note 1, at 1017, 1055, 1058.Google Scholar
Hodge, Gostin, , supra note 1, at 45, 62, and n.187.Google Scholar
Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 18-3-415.5(3)(a) (2001) allows prosecutors to contact the state or any local health department to determine whether an accused sex offender who has tested positive for HIV as part of a current prosecution had ever been tested and notified of his or her status before the date of the current offense. Discovery of prior notice could result in charges under Colorado's HIV-specific statute, Colo. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 16-13-804(d) (2001), which carries a mandatory indeterminate sentence of at least three times the upper limit of the sentence for the current crime, up to a maximum of the sex offender's natural life.Google Scholar
Such procedures are not infrequently authorized under HIV confidentiality statutes. See, for example, Pa. Stat. tit. 35, § 7608 (2001).Google Scholar
Hodge, Gostin, , supra note 1, at 45, 62, and n.187.Google Scholar
Commonwealth v. Moore, 584 A.2d 936 (1991).Google Scholar
Ferguson v. City of Charleston, 532 U.S. 67(2001).Google Scholar
Annas, G.J., “Testing Poor Pregnant Patients for Cocaine — Physicians as Police Investigators,” N. Engl. J. Med., 344 (2001): 1729–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferguson, 532 U.S. at 84–85. See also Annas, , supra note 56.Google Scholar
“Tyson Family Loses in Oregon Court; Eugene Judge Denies HIV-Positive Mom Right to Breastfeed, Assigns Custody of Infant to State,” Rethinking AIDS, 7, no. 6 (June 1999), available at <http://www.rethinkingaids.com/Archive/1999/RA9906TysonsLose.html>..>Google Scholar
Burris, S., “Surveillance, Social Risk and Symbolism: Framing the Analysis for Research and Policy,” Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 25, suppl. 2 (2000): S120–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adler, M.D., “Expressive Theories of Law: A Skeptical Overview,” University of Pennsylvania Law Review, 148 (2000): 1353–1501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gusfield, J.R., Symbolic Crusade: Status Politics and the American Temperance Movement (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1963).Google Scholar
For example, Gostin, , supra note 1. Dalton, , supra note 16.Google Scholar
Burris, S., “Human Immunodeficiency Virus,” in Dressler, Joshua, ed., Encyclopedia of Crime and Justice, 2d ed. (Farmington Hills, Michigan: Macmillan Library/Gale Group, 2002).Google Scholar