It’s time to modernize HIV laws in Arkansas.
Our HIV laws were written decades ago, completely out of step with today’s science.
We are also leading the effort to restore lost federal dollars with money from the state’s budget surplus.
Why Does It Matter?
Arkansas’s HIV criminalization laws were written decades ago. Today, these laws actually work against HIV prevention and treatment efforts, by discouraging individuals from getting tested.
Arkansas’ law doesn’t take low-risk behaviors into account
In Arkansas, a person living with HIV can go to prison for up to 30 years—and be required to register as a sex offender—for not disclosing their status before consensual sex. This is true even when they did not intend to harm anyone and no harm resulted. The maximum punishment is more severe than that for negligent homicide or 1st-degree stalking.
HIV criminal laws like that in Arkansas are opposed by public health and criminal justice experts, such as the ACLU, the National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors (NASTAD) and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL).
There is no evidence that HIV criminal laws promote public health by increasing disclosure, HIV testing, or safer sex. At the same time, by singling out a single disease, Arkansas’ law stigmatizes and
marginalizes people living with HIV, which undercuts an effective response to the epidemic.
Are You At Risk?
Arkansas law can require people living with HIV to disclose their status before any sexual contact, and proving you disclosed is often one person’s word against another’s. Knowing your rights matters.