Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness

by Trevor Hoppe

From the very beginning of the epidemic, AIDS was linked to punishment. Calls to punish people living with HIV--mostly stigmatized minorities--began before doctors had even settled on a name for the disease. Punishing Disease looks at how HIV was transformed from sickness to badness under the criminal law and investigates the consequences of inflicting penalties on people living with disease. Now that the door to criminalizing sickness is open, what other ailments will follow? With moves in state legislatures to extend HIV-specific criminal laws to include diseases such as hepatitis and meningitis, the question is more than academic.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Disability, LGBT, Queer, Politics, Science

288 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2017

Reviews

[Morgan M. Page · Rating 5 out of 5]

Since its identification in 1981, HIV (then called GRID - gay-related immune deficiency) has been the subject of mass hysteria, violent social stigma, and legal efforts to contain, control, and punish people who contract the virus. Trevor Hoppe examines the history and present reality of those efforts to contain, control, and punish in Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness. Focusing in on HIV criminalization in the United States, Hoppe details how criminal laws - linked to a history of criminalizing other socially marginalized populations - were created in response to the ongoing AIDS epidemic which invoked existing prejudices against gay men and sex workers. Intriguingly, Hoppe demonstrates that while homophobia and anti-sex work stigma were drivers in the creation of these laws largely at the behest of police unions and attention-seeking politicians, their implementation disproportionately affects heterosexuals, with the harshest sentences given to Black men who have sex with women in particular. Punishing Disease is an engaging, meticulous study of criminalization and its effects on the lives of people living with HIV. Hoppe leaves us with thoughtful recommendations for dismantling the retributive impulse at its heart. An absolute must-read.

[Luka · Rating 4 out of 5]

very informative. although i can't say i'll be able to sleep comfortably tonight, now knowing that so many people, not just regular folks but lawmakers, judges, and health care officials, are so ridiculously uninformed about hiv. i was not expecting to learn that today.
i especially appreciated the methodology section because a lot of published nonfiction works don't have that for some reason, which just doesn't sit right with me. 4 stars in total though because the writing style was veeeery dry. which y'know,,, it's fine, just not perfect 5 stars or whatever

[Michael Fasano-McCarron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unfortunately, I'm not surprised that the criminalization of HIV grew up in the War on Drugs' shadow. Reform needs to be demanded.