A 47 year-old HIV-positive man from Quebec was acquitted of rape yesterday because his alleged victim, who has Down's Syndrome, was unable to identify him.
This is no victory for justice. The main reason this case is on my website is because Canada's criminal law does not appear to differentiate between non-consensual sex - he allegedly raped the woman at gunpoint - and consensual sex. The man was charged with aggravated sexual assault for the rape, the same charge as having consensual sex with someone without disclosing your HIV status. There is a huge difference, in my opinion.
Full story from The Canadian Press.
This blog, Criminal HIV Transmission, a collection of published news stories, opinion, and resources about so-called 'HIV crimes', has now been incorporated into the new HIV Justice Network website, and will not be updated as of November 15th 2012. For more information about the HIV Justice Network, please visit http://www.hivjustice.net
About Me
HIV and the Criminal Law
This international resource, HIV and the Criminal Law, which I wrote and edited for NAM, is available as an A5 book and at www.aidsmap.com/law. To order your copy visit www.aidsmap.com/law, or contact NAM at +44 (0)20 7840 0050, email: info@nam.org.uk If you are based in a low or lower middle income country, as defined by the World Bank, and would like a free copy of this book please contact NAM.
Why Criminalisation Matters
Click on the image above to listen to Sean Strub, Catherine Hanssens, Vanessa Johnson and I discuss why HIV criminalisation in the US is a major issue for public health and human rights. The panel took place in February 2011 as part of the eQuality Thinking virtual convention.
Funders Concerned About AIDS
I delivered the keynote address, 'Combating HIV Criminalization at Home & Abroad', to the annual gathering of US-based HIV funders in Washington DC in December 2010. Video of my presentation is now available. Visit the FCAA website to watch it online.
Kafkaesque: A critical analysis of US HIV non-disclosure, exposure & transmission cases, 2007-2009
This poster presented to the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna in July 2010, highlights how the US criminal justice system routinely breaches international human rights standards [click on the image to download an interactive pdf file]
2 comments:
Respectfully the reason it should be archived on your site is the use of HIV+ as an adjective. Once upon a time in this country our nightly news would often report on crime using "Black" as an adjective. That somehow the ethnicity of an alleged criminal was relevant. This story would convey all the relevant information by simply stating "Man Acquitted Of Rape". For every news report or article that would use HIV+ in describing a person with a negative connotation we loose ground in fighting against the stigma that exists. And that impacts me as well as the rest of the 33 Million victims of the virus that try to live positive lives even in the negativity.
Fred Meikle
London
Further;
A Creep is a Creep. I don't care if they are short, tall, fat, thin, diabetic, bald, white, black, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or HIV+.
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