Published February, 2026
HIV Criminalization and Black Americans, Williams Institute (2026)
In the United States, HIV criminalization sits at the crossroads of two crises: the ongoing HIV epidemic and the epidemic of over-policing and mass incarceration. Both have long and deeply unequal impacts on Black communities—and HIV criminalization compounds that harm.
Black people are more likely to be diagnosed with and live with HIV, while also facing greater barriers to prevention and treatment. At the same time, Black Americans are subjected to higher levels of police surveillance and more severe punishment within the criminal legal system. Taken together, these realities mean that Black people living with HIV face a heightened risk of criminalization based on both race and health status.
This report looks closely at how race shapes the HIV epidemic and the criminal legal system in the U.S., and examines racial patterns in HIV criminalization using data from the Williams Institute.
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