More than 1,000 organizations and leaders have signed the National Consensus Statement on the Criminalization of HIV in the United States, according to a press release by the Positive Justice Project. The PJP, which spearheaded the statement, is a national coalition working to end HIV-specific felony laws.

According to the press release, 32 states have HIV-related criminal laws that target HIV-positive people for exposing or failing to disclose their HIV to others during low-risk or otherwise legal behavior.

The consensus statement is part of a growing national movement to reform HIV criminal laws. For example, last year the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) approved a resolution on ending such laws.

The PJP consensus statement reads in part:

Public health leaders and global policy makers agree that HIV criminalization is unjust, bad public health policy and is fueling the epidemic rather than reducing it.
Therefore, to ensure a just application of the criminal law to transmission of sexually transmitted infections, we demand that Federal and State officials modernize criminal laws to eliminate HIV-specific statutes and ensure that any prosecution on the basis of HIV or any other STIs requires:
1. proof of an intent to harm;
2. conduct that is likely to result in that harm;
3. proof that the conduct of the accused in fact resulted in the alleged harm; and
4. punishment that is proportionate to the actual harm caused by the defendant’s conduct.


The statement also explains the rationale for its viewpoints on HIV criminalization in the United States. It then reads, “It is time to modernize existing laws and their application to individuals with HIV to conform them to current scientific, legal and human rights standards.”

To endorse the consensus statement, contact programassociate@hivlawandpolicy.org.