Across the world, countries criminalize people who intentionally or recklessly expose others to the risk of acquiring HIV, or who in fact transmit HIV to them. The rationale for such criminalization typically centers on the harmfulness of HIV - and that it is not only morally wrong to cause, or risk causing, HIV infection but that the state has a legitimate justification for using the criminal law in the service of protecting and promoting public health. In this talk, I will explore the basis for, and the history of, the criminalization of HIV, but argue that – for the purposes of the criminal law, but not for those relating to the allocation of resources for prevention and treatment – it may be possible to "de-harm" HIV by acknowledging that it is, fundamentally, an environmental phenomenon and should be treated as such. The argument is, and is intended to be, a provocative one, but one which might enable us to reduce and ultimately eliminate HIV-related stigma – something that is demonstrably correlated with a poorer health outcome for people living with HIV, and those in key populations (such as drug users and sex workers) who are at increased risk of infection.
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