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Our new report, ‘Criminalisation of reckless HIV transmission: Understanding the impact’ explores the way that reckless transmission laws are understood and enforced in England and Wales, and the life-changing knock-on effects that this can have on individual wellbeing. By speaking to people who have been questioned, arrested and investigated for reckless transmission, it is clear there are extremely damaging consequences of a lack of understanding and knowledge about HIV and its transmission, as well as the criteria that must be satisfied for reckless transmission to occur. Participants in our research shared their experiences of invasive questioning by police, overexposure and lack of anonymity in the media, isolation from friends and family and inward feelings of guilt and humiliation.
For many years, National AIDS Trust has opposed the criminalisation of reckless HIV transmission on the grounds that it does not contribute to reducing new transmissions or HIV-related stigma. In fact, using criminal law in relation to HIV can deter people from accessing HIV testing and from talking openly about HIV – both elements that are crucial to the 2030 goal of stopping new cases of HIV in the UK. The experiences shared in our research demonstrate that reckless transmission laws, and the way they are understood and enforced in England and Wales, place blame on people living with HIV when transmission occurs. Rather than promote public health outcomes, current laws actually detract from them.
While we heard from a range of people in the research, the experience of one of our participants, who happens to be a police officer himself, has given us valuable insight into how reckless transmission is understood within police forces. He shared with us that he had received no information about reckless transmission laws during his police training. This was demonstrated to him when a separate unit to his own subjected him to arrest and invasive questioning, despite the fact he has been on effective HIV medication for years and cannot pass the virus on (a key criterion that must be fulfilled for a charge to go through). This experience has had damaging effects for his mental health and personal life, and he has faced barriers preventing him from doing his job as normal due to the arrest continuing to stay on his record.
Now the Crown Prosecution Service reflects the medical consensus that U=U, he says: “It is vital that the College of Policing, in partnership with the National Police Chiefs Council, accept this clinical intervention and work towards updated investigators manuals, with this clinical overlay matched to existing statutes. The clinical landscape for those living with HIV has advanced significantly, with the UK on target for being the first country in the world to be transmission-free by 2030. New guidance and training must be delivered to all forces across England and Wales, so that the historic lack of trust in the police among people living with HIV and their supporters can be restored in the interests of community cohesion and public health, and the work to deconstruct HIV stigma across the criminal justice system can begin.”
We will continue to campaign in this area, both within the police force and with the media, HIV support organisations, clinical staff and general public to work towards ending new HIV transmissions and in fighting HIV-related stigma.