Positive Justice Project

A NEW STRATEGY TO END CIVIL AND CRIMINAL PUNISHMENT AND DISCRIMINATION ON THE BASIS OF HIV INFECTION:

From the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, stigma and fear have fueled mistreatment of people living with HIV. One of the more troubling and persistent issues for people with HIV has been the prospect of criminal prosecution for acts of consensual sex and for conduct, such as spitting or biting, that poses no significant risk of HIV transmission. The Positive Justice Project is CHLP's response to this issue: a truly community-driven, multidisciplinary collaboration to end government reliance on an individual's positive HIV test result as proof of intent to harm, and the basis for irrationally severe treatment in the criminal justice system.

The Positive Justice Project (PJP) is a working consortium devoted to ending the abuse of the criminal law against HIV-positive people. PJP includes HIV advocates, researchers, health and social service providers, media representatives, policy analysts, law enforcement and people living with HIV. We engage in federal and state policy advocacy, legal resource creation and support, and on educating and mobilizing communities and policy makers in the United States. The Center for HIV Law and Policy, PJP's founding organization, provides ongoing coordination with the active support of PJP's seven working group chairs and the many individual and organizational members of PJP

There are seven Positive Justice Project work groups with specific areas of focus to help meet the PJP goals. The list below describes each work group:

• Federal Advocacy: focuses on strategies targeting federal agencies (e.g., the Department of Justice; PACHA; Office of National AIDS Policy, etc.) and federal policies (e.g., RWCA incentives to states to adopt laws; prosecution of HIV+ service members).
• State Advocacy: works with local advocates to help develop strategies to fight laws and prosecution policies that target people with HIV for arrests and sentencing based on HIV status.
• Constituency Outreach: works to engage members and leaders of key communities and organizations, e.g., people of color, women, LGBT, labor, civil rights, and others to combat HIV criminalization.
• Communication: develops messaging, media strategies, and talking points to educate the media, constituencies and policy makers about the harms of HIV criminalization.
• Research: identifies research priorities and gaps in information needed to support policy changes, and works on proposals to address them.
• Public Health: engages public health leaders, agencies and professional organizations to become visibly and vocally involved in the movement to end HIV criminalization.
• Legal: researches and reports on legal developments and trends, possible challenges to existing laws, and alternatives to current HIV criminalization approach.

If you are interested in joining a work group of the Positive Justice Project, please contact us at pjp@hivlawandpolicy.org.

For more information on the Positive Justice Project, click here.

You can find examples of media coverage of the Positive Justice Project here.
 

HIGHLIGHTED RESOURCES

Fact Sheet on H.R. 3053, REPEAL HIV Discrimination Act, AIDS United, Center for HIV Law and Policy, and Partner Organizations, 2011

H.R. 3053, the REPEAL (''Repeal Existing Policies that Encourage and Allow Legal") HIV Discrimination Act, was introduced Sept. 23, 2011 by Congresswoman Barbara Lee and addresses the serious problem of discrimination in the use of criminal and civil commitment laws against those who test positive for HIV. This bill creates incentives and support for states to reform existing policies that use the criminal law to target people living with HIV for felony charges and severe punishments for behavior that is otherwise legal or that poses no measurable risk of HIV transmission.

This fact sheet summarizes the bill's goals and significant provisions. A copy of the bill can found here.

HIV Criminalization, Are You at Risk?, Palm Card, Positive Justice Project (2011)

This palm card, published by the Positive Justice Project, provides information about HIV criminalization, ways to protect oneself from arrest, and what to do if one is arrested. If you would like to receive the printed palm cards for distribution to your networks or clients, please email programassociate@hivlawandpolicy.org for more information.

Guidance for People Living with HIV Who Are At Risk of, or Are Facing, Criminal Prosecution for HIV Nondisclosure or Exposure, Center for HIV Law and Policy (2011).

This fact sheet gives basic but essential guidance on what to do when the risk of criminal prosecution for HIV nondisclosure or exposure may be a reality. Thirty-six states and territories have laws that criminalize HIV exposure and/or nondisclosure of HIV status during sex or other contact with "body fluids"(saliva, blood), so it's important that people living with HIV have essential information about how they can avoid or prepare for possible criminal prosecution. The fact sheet outlines basic "dos" and "don'ts" and includes a list of legal resources.

Ending and Defending Against HIV Criminalization: State and Federal Laws and Prosecutions (2010).

CHLP has released the first comprehensive analysis of HIV-specific criminal laws and prosecutions in the United States. The publication, Ending and Defending Against HIV Criminalization: State and Federal Laws and Prosecutions, covers policies and cases in all fifty states, the military, federal prisons and U.S. territories. This manual is intended as a resource for lawyers and community advocates on the laws, cases, and trends that define HIV criminalization in the United States. Thirty-six states and two U.S. territories have HIV-specific criminal statutes and thirty-six states have reported proceedings in which HIV-positive people have been arrested and/or prosecuted for consensual sex, biting, and spitting. At least eighty such prosecutions have occurred in the last two years alone.

Positive Justice Project: Prosecutions for HIV Exposure in the United States, 2008-2011, The Center for HIV Law and Policy

This list, although not exhaustive, provides a broad snapshot of the spate of prosecutions for HIV exposure in the United States from 2008 through September 2011. The vast majority of the prosecutions listed here involves conduct that is either consensual (sex) or poses no significant risk of HIV transmission (spitting, biting). Although the outcomes of some cases remain unknown, the outcomes that are known often involve draconian penalties, including prison sentences that reach 25 years or more, even when no transmission of HIV occurred.

Positive Justice Project: HIV Criminalization Fact Sheet

The Positive Justice Project's HIV Criminalization Fact Sheet provides a quick summary of the facts and issues surrounding HIV criminalization in the United States. Currently there are 36 states and 2 U.S. territories that explicitly criminalize HIV exposure through sex, shared needles, and, in some jurisdictions, through "bodily fluids", including saliva. In these cases, neither proof of the intent to transmit HIV nor actual transmission are required. Sentences for HIV-positive persons convicted of HIV exposure are typically very harsh and disproportionate to the actual or potential harm presented in the facts of the case, perpetuating the stigma that HIV-positive people are toxic and dangerous.