Scalawag: The criminalization of HIV is a form of state punishment
In this think piece for Scalawag magazine, CHLP’s Kytara Epps argues that HIV criminalization functions not as a public-health measure but as a form of state punishment. These laws target people living with HIV for exposure, transmission, or nondisclosure — often in situations where no transmission occurred or where the act posed virtually no scientific risk, such as spitting or biting. She underscores that this punitive framework disproportionately harms Black, queer, poor, and LGBTQ+ communities, revealing how criminalization is used to police marginalized bodies rather than protect public health.
HIV criminalization is connected to broader structures of systemic harm, showing how these laws compound with ongoing cuts to Medicaid, social services, and other pillars of public health infrastructure. Criminalization not only intensifies stigma but discourages people from seeking testing or treatment for fear of legal repercussions, undermining the very health outcomes policymakers claim to advance. This landscape, she argues, exposes the deep disconnect between evidence-based public health and the carceral logic embedded in U.S. policy.
Kytara calls for an abolitionist approach that eliminates HIV-specific criminal laws and replaces them with real public-health strategies grounded in care, community accountability, and material support. She points to solutions such as comprehensive sex education, expanded access to care and prevention, and investment in community-based services that meet people where they are. Ending HIV criminalization, she argues, is necessary not only for public health but for building a world where people living with HIV can thrive free from punishment and surveillance.
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