Table 1 Legal contextual environment for people living with HIV
Law, Policy, Regulation | Geographic Location of Study Site | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Can | USA | PR | ||||||||||
CA | HI | IL | MA | NJ | NY | NC | OH | TX | WA | |||
Protective | ||||||||||||
Laws and regulations/policies that protect people living with HIV against discrimination | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Non-discrimination laws or regulations that specify protections for vulnerable subpopulations | Yes | No The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) excludes drug users and sex workers. | ||||||||||
Punitive | ||||||||||||
Laws, regulations or policies that present obstacles to access to prevention, treatment, care and support for vulnerable subpopulations | Yes | Yes, for drug users and sex workers. | ||||||||||
HIV-specific restrictions on entry, stay or residence | No | No* | No* | No* | No* | No* | No* | No* | No* | No* | No* | No* |
Laws that specifically criminalize HIV transmission or exposure | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No |
Laws that criminalize same-sex sexual activities between consenting adults | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Laws deeming commercial sex work to be illegal | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Laws that impose compulsory treatment for people who use drugs and/or provide for death penalty for drug offences | No Data | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Laws that allow HIV-specific enhancements to sentencing for other crimes | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Laws that criminalize exposure/transmission to other diseases** | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No |
Laws requiring HIV disclosure | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Laws requiring HIV reporting | Yes | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
Number of HIV prosecutions since 1981 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 25 | 22 | 8 | 0 |
Sample Size | 100 | 300 | 100 | 95 | 200 | 100 | 100 | 200 | 150 | 228 | 200 | 100 |