It’s inevitable that some laws meant to solve a problem will surprise us with unintended consequences that lead to new, potentially bigger problems. And other laws are just doomed from the start.
Case in point: A report from the International Planned Parenthood Federation finds that more and more countries are criminalizing the spreading of HIV, in a (hopelessly-misguided, destined-to-fail) effort to halt the disease. According to the AP:
Since 2005, seven countries in West Africa have passed HIV laws. In Benin, simply exposing others to HIV is a crime, even if transmission doesn’t occur. And in Tanzania, intentional transmission of the virus can lead to life imprisonment…
In the U.S., 32 states have laws criminalizing HIV transmission. Experts estimate that thousands of people have been charged across the country with spreading HIV.
Since 2001, 16 people in the United Kingdom have been prosecuted for spreading HIV.
Why is this such a bad idea? you may ask. Despite all the medical advances in treating and curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS, there are still an estimated 3 million new cases of HIV a year, and nearly all of them are the result of risky (and therefore preventable) behavior. Shouldn’t those who fail to take precautions be punished for endangering the lives of others?
Well no, not if it means driving said risky behavior underground to avoid criminal prosecution. Which is precisely what is likely to happen, and thereby make things even worse:
Health officials fear the trend could undermine gains made in fighting the AIDS pandemic and provoke a surge in cases…
“If the law is applied badly, this could set us back and do incredible damage,” said Paul de Lay, an AIDS expert at UNAIDS…
De Lay said the laws could result in forced testing and drive the epidemic underground as people hide their HIV status, allowing the virus to spread unnoticed.
Plus there’s the small matter of the counter-productivity, inefficiency, and downright cruelty of putting a bunch of HIV-positive people in jail.
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November 13th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
So what do you propose to do when a person who knows they are HIV positive has unprotected sex and fails to tell their partner about their disease? They shouldn’t be allowed to walk away from doing that without severe consequences.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
I am a patient of an upper cervical specific doctor and I have learned a lot about this and want to share the knowledge and good news of what upper cervical specific care doctors can do.
I know this will sound incredible to you but upper cervical specific doctors some of which can be found on http://www.upcspine.com can potentially help you with your aids problem. From my studies it is not a virus or any such thing. Drugs have not done anything in 30 plus years for this problem or any doctor named diseases or mental problems.
Go to an upper cervical doctor and just like that you begin to get better. How much better you get all depends on how much damage was done to the spine due to neglect. The neglect that is so pervasive in our society today is because we have been conditioned to wait for symptoms. This is the only limiting factor to how much better you can get after treatment. This is why I highly recommend having the body checked for imbalances before real bad problems show up. Look for practitioners on http://www.upcspine.com these people balance the body and as a result the health of your body and mind will begin to improve. When these improvements begin the symptoms of this thing you call HIV and aids will begin to diminish .This treatment can help a lot of other things as well, One cause, one cure. Upper cervical specific doctors should be able to untwist untilt a position the atlas centered and level under the counterpoint of the skull. When this is done the rest of the vertebra will also find their neutral positions as well with out anyone assisting their movement.
When this is happening one could feel pulls and tugs and occasional pain here and there this is the spine shifting back to the position to where it should be. Each persons experience with this will be different. At this point using x rays are the only way to accurately determine the degree of subluxation. Thay must also be able to determine if another adjustment is absolutely necessary or not.
Don’t go to a full spine manipulator, or diversified chiropractors. They are also known as mixers.
.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
YES!! No if buts or ands… I don’t care about worrying about “applying the law badly” or anything else. If you know you have a deadly contagious disease and you knowingly solicit an innocent person to, basically, give it to. yes, it is a crime and yes, it should be punishable as such.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
I have to agree with TGL. If you knowingly expose someone to a deadly substance without their consent — whether that substance is HIV, cyanide or cigarette smoke — you should be charged with a crime. It’s about time people start taking responsibility for their choices in life.
November 17th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Are you kidding me? It’s NOT a crime? So, if somebody caught HIV from a person who subjected it to them, knowingly, then this person who contracted HIV can charge the other person and, don’t you think that’s a benefit to them? At least they would get something out of it! It should definitely be a crime! Cruel to put HIV positive people in jail? Well, cry me a frigging river, but they shouldn’t be exposing their potentially deadly virus to people and not telling them. It’s just ridiculous. It’s definitely about time we put a lock down on STD’s. Checks need to be MANDATORY not effing optional. You should have tests before you have sex with ANYBODY, protected or not! There should be custom condoms for every person in the world with their current status and any past exposures and abnormal test results. Goddammit, all of the promiscuous people needn’t subject the rest of the world to this foolishness.
And that is not a generalization saying all HIV positive people have been promiscuous because, I realize there are other ways of contracting it. I am merely addressing that portion.
November 20th, 2008 at 8:56 am
i BELIEVE THAT THIS ARTICLE IS SO STUPID AND NOT VALID,tHE SPRAEDING OD hiv IS A CRIME
November 23rd, 2008 at 6:47 pm
i do believe it is a crime to KNOWINGLY spread hiv. just because youre doomed to live with it because you wanted your ten minutes of great sex, doesn’t mean you should be mad at the world and spread the disease. it is highly inhumane!!!
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:31 am
What ever you think you have aids of other wise these people can help. Please don’t wait. I am not gaining anything from this. Aids is not a communicable thing. The treatment is painless and can help you in more ways than you think. And not in the order you would expect because it is the nervous system that is beginning to work better.
Problems are not what doctors say they are. When people rely on upper cervical specific doctors for the problems that exist, by name anyway, and as a preventive, we won’t have many of the so called problems that exist today be checked and obey the cervical doctor’s instructions. Do this in earnest, and we won’t have many of the so called problems that exist today. Go to http://www.upcspine and find one in your area regardless of what diagnosis you have. Better to go before you have a problem. Remember the Nike commercial? Well… just do it! These people can help more thing than you think. New people should learn The Duff method. A way of measuring, light toggle recoil and the use of the Tytron infrared scanner like Stephen Duff use it. I recommend that whoever has a practice should pattern practice after the cervical this cervical doctor that I have known over the last 10+ years IT is Stephen Duff. 707-433-7211 you can learn a lot from this guy. He is a genius that others should follow in every regard. That is not to say what is out there should be avoided many good thing are out there. I know how to direct you.
Don’t choose a full spine or diversified spinal manipulator.
December 22nd, 2008 at 12:41 am
aids is not spread. aids is a made up name to the enrichment the pharmaceutical industry’s. attempting to poison as many Gays and blacks as thay can. Don;t let them do anymore of this.I I am white.and I am not gay but I am going to fight like a tiger for them.anyway. The pharmaceutical company’s are glad the majority thinks that way do at this time lets change our way of thinking! .go to http://www.upcspine and find a practitioner.
December 26th, 2008 at 1:03 am
It is a crime 2 spread Aids. I think its worse than being killed with a gun. atleast its quick and it doesnt break your soul down day by day. There is a guy with a video out on youtube bragging about giving all these young pretty women HIV, and he is going from state to state. Somebody needs to stop people like him because ofcourse he is not the only cute rich guy doing this
February 2nd, 2009 at 12:47 am
Your political correctness makes me sick. Your an over educated ninny well removed from the populations that deal with this disease up there in your your ivory tower. Who in the hell are you to say that someone who knowingly spreads a fatal devastating illness should not be held criminally responsible. You madam are irresponsible.
February 14th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Look. It’s called an HIV TRANSMISSION law. It’s not possible exposure law, or an “Oops, I did it again” law.
Didn’t your parents teach you the birds and the bees? For the girls, didn’t mom tell you the risks of having sex with boys? Boys, didn’t dad warn you how easily girls get pregnant and that just ONE mistake is enough to ruin your life with a forced, loveless marriage and having to pay child support for 18 years?
If we are going to apply the same logic to the HIV community, let’s be fair.
HIV Awareness groups have been screaming for YEARS that if you’re having sex, to treat EVERYONE as if they have HIV or some other major disease. It’s the only way you’re going to ensure safety.
Sexual safety can’ t be mandated until women can’t have sex with a man and then cry rape, until father’s can’t lose custody of their kids due to unfounded accusations of child molestation, and/or until people can’t get into trouble for intentionally and falsely accusing otherwise innocent people of crimes they’ve never committed.
There is going to come a day where if the lawmakers in this country aren’t careful, the HIV community will come out in force (gay AND straight) and will protest being unfairly treated and persecuted and thrown in jail and their rights abbrogated and their lives ruined forever due to unnecessary imprisonment.
It’d be Stonewall, all over again.
It would be the new classism. The HIV negative straights and gays vs. the HIV positive straights and gays.
And the saga goes on….
February 18th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
It’s funny reading all these comments from people who say that people need to start taking responsibility, because I completely agree. And for that reason, I think it’s the responsibility of everyone to practise safe sex, whether they know the HIV status of their partner or not. Even if the person you’re having sex with tells you they’re HIV-negative, how do you know that? Standard tests only confirm that the person was negative up until about twelve weeks prior. And that’s if the test was recent. And that’s if they’re telling you the truth.
People need to wake up and realize that safer sex is a two-way street, and protecting yourself from HIV is just as much your responsibility as it is your sexual partner’s. No other virus or disease is treated this way under the law; no one would be charged with a crime for giving someone the flu, or even more serious communicable diseases. Otherwise we’d all just be charging each other for giving each other viruses. The person you charge could then charge the person who infected them, and so on. It’s ridiculous.
So grow up and take some responsibility. Use a condom. It’s that easy.
March 18th, 2009 at 11:00 am
Ok, so a parent that owns a locked, unloaded gun is as guilty as a parent who owns the loaded gun sitting on the coffee table when a kid gets shot? Um not so much to me. If someone knows they have a confirmed uncurable disease, yes they should be prosecuted for putting an unknowing partner at risk. If the infected person is worried about the repercussions of the partner they should get a contract that states informed consent. Now if it is not proven that the infected knew of their condition, then no, both parties were taking the same risks and started on equal terms.
March 18th, 2009 at 11:06 am
By the way, if someone has TB, they arent just allowed to walk free in the public (required mask, isolation), there are standards set for even some treatable illnesses.
March 18th, 2009 at 11:09 am
Murderers through violent acts are people with love/emotional problems too, maybe we should let them go, it being cruel to lock people up and all…. ;P
March 18th, 2009 at 11:18 am
One more thing, whats with all the jibe about causing AIDS to go underground? It already is underground, has been, unless all those marked positive were volunteers. Also, I wish everyone would get off the whole protected sex bit, its been taught for years now and AIDS is still a growin’—–constant repetition of an action and expecting a different outcome is a form of insanity, thought you might like to know that.
April 24th, 2009 at 11:43 am
I will use a metaphor to describe both sides.
Pro-law: IF YOU KILL SOMEONE THEN IT’S YOUR FAULT
Anti-law: IF SOMEONE KILLS YOU IT’S YOUR FAULT FOR NOT BEING CAREFUL ENOUGH
Hmm.
I wonder which one seems more logical.
September 13th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
I think this has to be the most vacuous statement I’ve ever read in an article from someone trying to pass as a professional writer:
“Well no, not if it means driving said risky behavior underground to avoid criminal prosecution. Which is precisely what is likely to happen, …”
You should explain what you mean by “said risky behavior” going “underground”.
If two people meet at a bar/club, not some “underground” venue, that person ensures the other he/she does not have HIV, while is knowingly infected, they proceed to have sex (even if it’s protected, accidents can still happen and even french kissing can spread the virus via bleeding gums, etc.), the person is then infected. Even worse, people have been known to falsify HIV test reports in an attempt to prove to their partner that they don’t carry the virus so that they can have unprotected sex and infect them. How far do we go in protecting people who deliberately cut short people’s lives with terrible diseases?
September 16th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
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