Nearly half of HIV-positive respondents to a recently released survey on HIV criminalization say they believe they will not receive a fair hearing in the criminal justice system if they ever face charges for failing to disclose their status to sexual partners. The findings come from the preliminary results of a study released at the International AIDS Conference in Washington DC in late July. The results, researchers say, show HIV criminal laws have created a hostile legal environment for those living with HIV.
Those preliminary results included the responses of 2,076 people living with HIV in the U.S. The responses were collected online during June and July. The study found that 49 percent said they didn't "trust" they would get a fair hearing if they were charged in criminal court for failing to disclose their HIV-positive status to sex partners, while 30 percent said they were unsure if they would receive a fair hearing. Twenty-one percent of respondents said they trusted the system would provide a fair hearing.
"To me, that's shocking," says Laurel Sprague, lead researcher for the Sero Project, which sponsored the survey. The organization advocates against HIV criminal laws.
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