The Case of Linwood Boyette and Transatlantic Imaginaries of AIDS, Race, and Carcerality

In November 1987, Linwood Boyette, an African American man and retired US army sergeant, became one of the first people in West Germany to be jailed for alleged HIV transmission, following charges brought under a legal Maßnahmenkatalog (catalog of measures) in the state of Bavaria. Boyette stood accused of having knowingly exposed three white male sexual partners to HIV and bringing them into “danger of death.” Boyette’s racial and national “otherness” underscored the widespread West German perception of AIDS as a racialized threat linked to the United States. With his example, this article frames early West German criminalization of HIV/AIDS as a transatlantic spectacle of carceral discipline and racialized punishment. The article concludes that the US-inspired Bavarian response mirrors an ongoing carceral racialization of HIV that systemically harms individuals and communities of color in the United States today.

Indigenous Women Voicing Experiences of HIV Stigma and Criminalization Through Art

Indigenous women living with HIV are disproportionately affected by the criminalization of HIV nondisclosure. The purpose of this paper is to better understand how the criminalization of HIV nondisclosure shapes the lived experiences of HIV-related stigma, disclosure, and health service among cis and transgender Indigenous women living with HIV (IWLWH). This study was developed based on a community roundtable on HIV criminalization with engagement of legal experts, HIV service organizations, and IWLWH on the unceded traditional territory of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the ter̓ritories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱ wú7mesh (Squamish), and Səlílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) in 2016 to 2018. Drawing on community-based participatory photovoice methodology, Indigenous Peer Researchers played a central role throughout this project, including planning, facilitation of photo-voice workshops, and analysis. This analysis includes 17 IWLWH. Through a peer-engaged analysis process, the photovoice images and narratives illustrated how the criminalization of HIV nondisclosure is intertwined with colonial violence to shape experiences of social isolation and exclusion, disclosure, access to safe health care, responsibility, fear, and resilience. The legal requirements of HIV nondisclosure are unattainable for many IWLWH who are not able to safely disclose their HIV status, negotiate condom use, and maintain a low viral load. In line with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the justice system must be reoriented from punishment and oppression to healing and wellbeing for all Indigenous women living with HIV. Simultaneously, we call for culturally safe services that protect privacy and recognize strengths of IWLWH.

HIV Law and Policy in the United States: A Tipping Point

The fight to effectively treat and stop the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has made meaningful progress both in the United States and globally. But within the United States that progress has been uneven across various demographic groups and geographic areas, and has plateaued. While scientific advances have led to the development of medicine capable of both treating and preventing HIV, law and policy dictate who will have ready access to these medicines and other prevention techniques, and who will not. Law and policy also play a crucial role in determining whether HIV will be stigmatized, discouraging people from being tested and treated, or will be identified for what it is—a preventable and treatable disease. To make further progress against HIV, the United States must address healthcare disparities, end the criminalization of HIV, and devote additional resources toward combatting HIV stigma and discrimination.

La criminalización de la transmisión de VIH en los medios: periodismo de sucesos entre el sensacionalismo y la homofobia = Criminalization of HIV transmission and media coverage: crime news upholding sensationalism and homophobia

Resumen: Introducción: La información periodística actual aborda mayoritariamente el VIH como una epidemia de carácter global y ha abandonado el discurso de los grupos de riesgo que vinculó al virus con la comunidad gay. En los últimos años, el VIH ha sido objeto de atención mediática por la judicialización de la transmisión deliberada del virus. Objetivos: Este trabajo analiza la cobertura periodística en torno a dos hombres europeos juzgados en 2017: el escocés Daryll Rowe, condenado a cadena perpetua por tratar de infectar con VIH a 10 hombres, y el italiano Valentino Talluto, sentenciado por transmitir el virus a 32 mujeres. El estudio busca identificar las características dominantes en ambas coberturas y las diferencias fruto de la distinta orientación sexual de sus protagonistas. Metodología: Las 81 noticias recabadas se someten a un análisis de contenido, tanto cuantitativo como cualitativo. Resultados: La información privilegia un enfoque sensacionalista con imprecisiones en el lenguaje utilizado, se estructura sobre la dicotomía víctima/villano y muestra diferencias entre ambos episodios. Conclusión: La cobertura del VIH como información de sucesos implica un encuadre emocional que puede afectar negativamente a cómo los lectores se relacionan con las personas que viven con el virus, además de revelar la pervivencia de cierta homofobia mediática.Palabras clave: VIH; encuadre periodístico; orientación sexual; homofobia; sensacionalismo; estigma; víctima; procesamiento criminal.Abstract: Introduction: Current journalistic coverage of HIV mainly addresses the virus as a global epidemic, leaving out the risk-groups discourse that has linked the virus to the gay community. In recent years, HIV has been the subject of journalistic attention due to deliberate transmission of the virus being prosecuted. Objectives: This research analyzes the media coverage of two European men tried in 2017: Daryll Rowe, of Scotland, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for trying to infect 10 men with HIV, and Italian Valentino Talluto, convicted of transmitting the virus to 32 women. This study seeks to identify dominant characteristics of both coverages and the differences between the representations of the different sexual orientations of those involved. Methodology: Content analyses, both quantitative and qualitative, were applied to the 81 pieces of news coverage collected. Results: The coverage of the two trials privileges a sensationalist approach that upholds inaccuracies in the language used, and it is structured around the victim/villain dichotomy, showing differences between both episodes. Conclusion: Covering HIV as crime news promotes an emotional framing of the disease that can negatively affect how readers relate to HIV-positive people, in addition to revealing the persistence of certain homophobic biases in the media.Keywords: HIV; media frame; sexual orientation; homophobia; sensationalism; stigma; victim; criminal prosecution.

Counteracting shame, recognizing desire: Managing the emotional reverberations of criminalizing HIV nondisclosure in Canada

This article considers how emotions shape law through specific consideration of the criminalization of HIV nondisclosure in Canada. As the majority of these cases involve heterosexual sex, we argue that Canada’s aggressive prosecution is partially driven by carceral feminist attitudes toward protecting women’s sexual purity. We contend that emotions structure punitive mentalities in ways that contribute to the expansion of carceral culture into new sites of surveillance, in this case the field of public health and the HIV/AIDS frontline service sector. Drawing on qualitative interviews conducted with frontline workers in AIDS Service Organizations (ASOs) across Canada, we explore the emotionally laden nature of disclosure for people living with HIV and those who counsel them. Emotions shape the narrative arc of disclosure and counselling practices, commanding significant emotional labour.