CHLP Updates HIV Criminal Law Offenses and Enhancements Maps

CHLP has updated its set of maps in its signature Mapping HIV Criminal Laws in the U.S. resource. The updates include a new Donation Offenses map and also reflect recent legislative changes and ongoing research into the nuances of HIV criminalization.

The newly added Donation Offenses map depicts laws criminalizing the donation or sale, or attempted donation or sale, of blood, blood products (such as plasma or platelets), semen, tissue, organs, or other bodily fluids. These donation offenses exist within exposure offenses and distinct provisions. Despite recent rule changes to organ donation by PLHIV, these donation offenses are present at the federal level and in 14 states.

Earlier this year, North Dakota and Maryland became the fourth and fifth states, respectively, to fully repeal their HIV-specific exposure offenses. These updates are reflected on the Exposure and Transmission Offenses map. Despite these significant milestones, the overall count of states with HIV-specific exposure and transmission laws remains the same at 32. This is because both states have separate laws, located in their health codes, that continue to target people living with HIV using “communicable disease” language. 

• In North Dakota, there is an offense that punishes anyone who, "knowing that the person is infected with a sexually transmitted disease, willfully exposes another person to infection."
• In Maryland, there is similarly an offense that imposes criminal punishment on people living with an "infectious disease" who either are in a public place and don't take "proper precautions" or transfer "any [used] article" to another without sterilizing it.

Because HIV is explicitly covered under the definitions of “sexually transmitted disease” in North Dakota and “infectious disease” in Maryland, these laws remain a criminalization threat for PLHIV and remain shaded on the map. However, the laws use less direct language, so they have been lowered on the HIV-specificity scale. 

Summary of changes:

• A new Donation Offenses map was created.
• On the HIV-specific Exposure and Transmission Offenses map, North Dakota and Maryland were moved from the highest specificity to the second lowest specificity.
• On the Needle and Syringe Sharing Penalty Enhancements map, the shading for North Dakota was removed.
• Definitions and key examples were added to the User Guide.

The updated set of maps and User Guide are available at hivlawandpolicy.org/maps.