Thinking on prosecutions

If you want to explore the issue more and find out, for example, why we don’t think prosecutions for reckless transmission are helpful, then reading some of the articles, blogs and essays below may give you helpful information. Whatever your views, they will certainly give you food for thought.

Our views

Read more about our views on prosecutions

Policing transmission

Our research on how some English cases have been handled by the police (undertaken with the help of ACPO, the Metropolitan Police and other HIV and disability organisations), Policing Transmission.

Guides

Terrence Higgins Trust and NAT have produced a simple guide to Prosecutions for HIV Transmission. NAT also host more information about past prosecutions and other areas of the topic at their website.

The global picture

We have also worked closely with the Global Network of People with HIV on the European arm of their Global Scan, which gives information on laws and prosecutions for HIV transmission across the world.

New cases anywhere in the world are reported in Edwin Bernard’s excellent blog. The blog also has a link to presentations and a debate at the 2010 World AIDS Conference at which we outlined our work on this in the UK.

Edwin is also the author of NAM’s HIV and the Criminal Law which covers all the above topics and more in far greater depth.

At United Nation’s level the UN Development programme has undertaken a Global Commission on HIV and the Law to explore all of the issues around criminalisation and HIV prevention.

UNAIDS has also published a briefing, Criminalization of HIV Transmission, which examines the arguments for and against criminalising HIV transmission.

Ten Reasons to Oppose the Criminalization of HIV Exposure or Transmission, available in eight languages, gives reasons why leading experts believe criminalising HIV exposure or transmission is generally an unjust and ineffective public policy.