Published July, 2024
Enforcement of HIV Criminalization in Indiana: Donation Laws, Williams Institute UCLA School of Law, July 2024
Using data obtained from the Indiana Office of Court Services, online court-tracking tools, and Probable Cause Affidavits, this study examines the enforcement of Indiana’s HIV-related criminal donation laws.
The Williams Institute analyzed data from the Indiana courts regarding individuals arrested and prosecuted for an HIV-related donation crime in that state. Indiana has six laws criminalizing people living with HIV (PLWH), spanning the criminal code and public health code. This report—one in a series examining HIV criminalization in Indiana—analyzes the enforcement of two laws that criminalize the donation of blood, plasma, and semen for artificial insemination if the person knows they have HIV:
- Indiana Criminal Code § 35-45-21-1 Transferring Contaminated Body Fluids (enacted in 1988)
- Indiana Health Code § 16-41-14-17 Donation, Sale, or Transfer of HIV Infected Semen; penalties (enacted in 1989)
The data were obtained between January 2022 and March 2024 and cover enforcement of the laws between 2001 and 2023. We identified 18 unique individuals charged with 21 violations of the state’s criminal donation law related to HIV, resulting in 18 court cases. While other states have similar HIV-related criminal donation laws, Indiana had the greatest number of convictions under a donation law documented in a single state.
Click here for a full copy of the report.
Click here for a copy of the Williams Institute Press Release which includes a sign-on petition to Indiana legislators.
Authors of the report:
Nathan Cisneros, HIV Criminalization Project Director
Carrie Foote, Professor, Indiana University-Indianapolis
Phoenix Schlebecker, Research Associate, Indiana University-Indianapolis
Brad Sears, Founding Executive Director
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