Open AccessConsiderations for Modernized Criminal HIV Laws and Assessment of Legal Protections Against Release of Identified HIV Surveillance Data for Law Enforcement
Author(s) -
Carol L. Galletly,
Nanette Benbow,
Amy Killelea,
Zita Lazzarini,
R. G. Edwards
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
american journal of public health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.284
H-Index - 264
eISSN - 1541-0048
pISSN - 0090-0036
DOI - 10.2105/ajph.2019.305284
Subject(s) - criminalization , law enforcement , confidentiality , context (archaeology) , statutory law , public health , law , subpoena , criminal law , enforcement , business , medicine , political science , paleontology , nursing , biology
In November 2018, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention distributed guidance to funded agencies under its Integrated HIV Surveillance and Prevention Programs Initiative to support the implementation of the program's third strategy: HIV transmission cluster investigation and outbreak response efforts. Cluster detection seeks to identify persons infected with HIV (diagnosed and undiagnosed) who are linked to infections in single or related sexual and injection drug networks. Identifying expanding clusters allows public health personnel to intervene directly where active HIV transmissions occur.However, in the context of HIV infection where most US states have enacted criminal exposure laws, these efforts have sparked concerns about the protection of HIV surveillance data from court order or subpoena for law enforcement purposes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calls for funded agencies to evaluate relevant confidentiality laws to ensure that these are sufficient to protect the confidentiality of HIV surveillance data from use by law enforcement.We present four often overlooked factors about the criminalization of HIV exposure and HIV surveillance data protections that should be considered in statutory assessments.