RESEARCH THAT MATTERS ENFORCEMENT OF HIV CRIMINAL LAWS in Virginia DECEMBER 2021 Nathan Cisneros Brad Sears Enforcement of HIV Criminal Laws in Virginia | 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Williams Institute analyzed data from the state of Virginia about individuals who came into contact with the state’s criminal legal system through allegations of committing crimes related to HIV, Hepatitis B, and syphilis. [...] Nearly six in ten offenses cited at the time of arrest were for the felony offense of intent to transmit, which required the person to have engaged in sex acts with the intention to transmit HIV, Hepatitis B, or syphilis to their partner. [...] Percentage of HIV-related offenses cited at arrest in Virginia Disclosure Intent to transmit 41% 59% There were about seven arrests per year on average in the 2010s—about the same as the average for the preceding ten years. [...] Only three charges that advanced to the charging phase resulted in a not guilty outcome, all for the misdemeanor nondisclosure charge.14 The year 2013 was the peak year for guilty outcomes; in that year one person was convicted for 13 counts of nondisclosure.15 Figure 7. [...] We multiply the average cost of incarceration for prisons by the sentence length for sentences greater than one year that resulted from a single arrest cycle to find the upper bound on the cost of incarceration in prisons for HIV-related convictions.
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