Mapping HIV Criminalization Laws in the U.S., CHLP (2025)

In the United States, 32 states criminalize people living with HIV (PLHIV) and 28 states have harsh criminal penalty enhancements that elevate charges based on a person’s knowledge of their HIV status. For more than a decade CHLP has produced an HIV criminalization map that portrays the variety and prevalence of these laws used to prosecute and punish PLHIV. This new release represents a substantial update resulting from a comprehensive research process and updated methodology based on CHLP’s Sourcebook on State and Federal HIV Criminal Law and Practice.

Each new map uses an HIV specificity scale to identify laws that target PLHIV and other stigmatized health conditions through direct and indirect language. In addition to the novel HIV specificity scale, the new maps provide greater detail on enhancements to provoke a more nuanced discussion on the threat of HIV criminalization, especially for people with intersecting marginalized identities. CHLP produced A User Guide to CHLP’s Updated HIV Criminalization Maps that provides an overview of the updates, an explanation of the update process, and terms and concepts that are essential for understanding the new HIV criminalization maps. 

On February 26, 2025, CHLP’s Kytara Epps, Jada Hicks, and Sean McCormick hosted a webinar to walk through the changes, discuss the update process, and highlight important features of the new maps, including key definitions and concepts.

CHLP encourages the broad use of our HIV criminalization maps. These maps are designed to support efforts to challenge laws and to inform communities, policymakers, and legal professionals about the landscape of HIV criminalization in the United States. If you choose to use our maps in presentations, reports, or other materials, please ensure that the Center for HIV Law and Policy (CHLP) is appropriately credited. Attribution should include our full name and a link to our website or the original source of the map. Additionally, to maintain the integrity and accuracy of the information provided, we ask that you do not alter or modify the maps in any way. If you have questions about their content or would like to collaborate on specific applications, please reach out to CHLP for further guidance.