A New Strategy to End Civil and Criminal Punishment on the Basis of HIV Status, Positive Justice Project (2010)

This document provides comprehensive information about the Positive Justice Project and HIV criminalization.  One of the more troubling and persistent issues for people with HIV has been the prospect of criminal prosecution for acts of consensual sex and for conduct, such as spitting or biting, that poses no significant risk of HIV transmission. The Positive Justice Project is CHLP's response to this issue: a truly community-driven, multidisciplinary collaboration to end government reliance on an individual's positive HIV test result as proof of intent to harm, and the basis for irrationally severe treatment in the criminal justice system. This document addresses the issues of HIV criminalization, how criminalization leads to negative health outcomes and increased fear and misunderstanding about HIV, and how the Positive Justice Project fights against the ignorance and hysteria surrounding HIV criminalization.

The goal of the Positive Justice Project is to bring an end to laws and policies that subject people with HIV to arrest and increased punishment on the basis of gross ignorance about the nature and transmission of HIV, without consideration of the actual risks of HIV exposure.