If a person knows they have AIDS/HIV and they knowingly gave it to others, what do you think the punishement should be. Should they be prosecuted or not?

I’ve read about this happening quite a few times.Not sure what the punishment was though. Possibly attempted murder or something along those lines.

In South Park it ends very well…

Seriously, if the carrier of the virus give it knowingly I think it must be punished, like said before maybe murder attempt, or poisoning attempt at least.

yes, I think they should be convicted… conspiracy to commit manslaughter? Is that a charge? Or they should invent one… Willing transfer of a terminal illness?

Assault with a deadly virus?

That’s a good one too, Lightly.

Yes, they should be charged. We have a prostitute in custody dying of AIDS right now, and she’s only charged with prostitution.

Maybe if a victim of this “victim-less crime” came forward, more charges would be filed. But I think there should be a category covering willful wanton neglect for public safety or some such thing. Why wait until someone else has the disease?

Trust me on this: If someone knowingly gave me that, they would not live long enough to be prosecuted.

There is a LIMIT to my forgiveness.

September 4, 2008, 1:00 PM EDT

Bioweapons! Terrorists! OMGLORZ!!!111 The government needs to monitor all sexual activity!!

But seriously, that sucks for the newly infected person. I hope that’s considered a crime.

To knowingly infect others is wrong. It should be a crime. It should be prosecuted, but it could be very difficult to prove. How do you prove a negative? (He/She did not tell me they were infected.)

A jury might reasonably assume that no person would knowingly have sex with an infected person, unless they were incredibly drunk, which could be easily proven, if witnesses to the drunkeness were present, or some tests had been done, immediately after the assignation.

September 4, 2008, 1:35 PM EDT

If “They knew and had unprotected sex with others and infected them.” is it wrong? Yes, I think it is terrible. Do I think it should be a crime? I’m not sure. Yes, if it happened to me or someone I cared about, I would feel like it was a crime and that person should be punished, but I’m trying to be objective. I’m not sure that this is an area that courts could fairly and accurately precide over. It seems a bit ‘slippery slope’ to me. In my mind it is similar to the issue of someone murdering (or assaulting) a pregnant woman and the fetus dies, yes it is terrible, but should the person be charged with the murder of the fetus also. And yet with the death of the fetus the details of the case would more than likely be more clear cut, than an issue involving two adults having sex.

Having sex with an HIV positive person does not automatically equal death. One might not even get infected, and if infected, may not die. If I’m correct, a willing sexual partner has a responsibility to protect themself. There is little chance of contracting HIV if one protects themself.

I agree with Marissa; it’s wrong, but I’m not sure it’s a crime.

Not all AIDS/HIV patients are clearly labeled for their partner to see that they are in fact sick. If someone engages in sex and does not disclose the fact that they are, in fact, sick, then they are willfully endangering another person’s life. To me, that is attempted murder. They have a deadly disease, it is their responsibility to inform anyone they have sexual relations with, for the rest of their life.

tinyfaery is correct, not all HIV patients die of HIV/AIDS. However, they are not ina position where they will have to take medications for the rest of their life. They will have to deal with the stress and the emotional implications that having a dread disease carries.

All of this could be prevented with honest communication about whether or not you have any communicable diseases and yes, possibly a condom, too.

“They have a deadly disease, it is their responsibility to inform anyone they have sexual relations with, for the rest of their life.” Cak, I agree with you completely on that statement. However, I’m not sure you could have a law against it that could be realistically and uniformly enforced. How would the legal issue of he said/she said be fairly handled without there being a bias against the individual with HIV? For example, they claim in a court of law that they told the other individual and the other individual claims they didn’t, would the jury be automatically biased against the person with HIV and believe the person who had been infected? Especially, if you end up in a situation where multiple partners are involved. Let’s take this one step further, if a person (person A) knowingly has sex with a person with HIV (person B) and then has sex with another individual (person C) without disclosing that they had sex with B (whom has HIV), should A be held criminally responsible if C contracts HIV? Don’t get me wrong, I think that everyone should be acting resposibly, but I’m not talking about what I think people should do, I’m talking about what behavior we can and should hold legally accountable.

Kill them so they dont do it again. It is like having a loaded gun and shooting somone with your gun.

@gooch, should we kill individuals after their first DUI too, “so they dont do it again”? Driving while intoxicated is quite similar to “having a loaded gun and shooting somone with your gun.”

Once again, I’m not saying their behavior is right, I’m saying is it wise to make it criminal?

Which, DUI is criminal, so maybe we should make it criminal, I don’t know. I’m just saying that I think there is a knee jerk reaction to this issue and that concerns me, because some of the worse laws have been made as knee jerk reactions to terrible situations and the laws didn’t really make the situation better, it just made it more complicated.

They should be charged with attempted murder at the very least. If their victim dies, it should be first degree murder, and punishable to the full extent of the law. Gooch is right.

@ marissa Yes that’s how I answered the question which was posted the other day asking the same thing about DUI offenders.

@scamp, okay, how would you enforce it? Especially if they had been with more than one person who had HIV? How would you determine who should be charged? Also what about the situation I mentioned above, should someone be held criminally accountable in that situation and if so, who?
“Let’s take this one step further, if a person (person A) knowingly has sex with a person with HIV (person B) and then has sex with another individual (person C) without disclosing that they had sex with B (whom has HIV), should A be held criminally responsible if C contracts HIV?”
@gooch, at least you are consistent in your views, I can respect that :0)

From the Times

@marissa The question was If a person knows they have AIDS/HIV and they knowingly gave it to others, what do you think the punishement should be. Should they be prosecuted or not?

Adding extra people to the equation does not change my answer. If a person or persons with aids has sex with another person without divulging the risks involved, they should be charged with attempted murder. That is my opinion. If you feel it is ok to do, that’s your perogative.

@Scamp, I certainly don’t feel it is okay to do, I wasn’t attacking your point of view, I’m sorry if it came across that way. I was just discussing the issue. I wasn’t asking those question in a hostile manner, I am truly interested in how such a law would be enforced.
@lightlyseared, thank you for sharing the link, I found the article very interesting.

As far as I know there have been several successful prosecutions in the UK.

@marissa no worries. No harm no foul. As far as enforcing the law, I guess it would be similar to investigating a rape case. There could be physical evidence in some cases, and when there is not, it would probably go to trial on a he said she said type basis.

@Marissa. I agree that there are difficulties in this situation – especially when it comes to multiple people and when you start tracking back and realize it’s not a clear cut situation.
I guess because I’ve watched someone die from this disease and the discrimination that comes along with it – I’ve got a very strong view on things.

However, I know that they have tried some cases and some have been sentenced. I think it fell more along the lines of manslaughter or endangerment.

There are a lot of gaps in this and at times, it would be very difficult to prove. You do raise a good point.

Cak, I’m sorry for your loss and believe me, there is no question that I think the situation in the question is terrible. And my heart says they should be charged with murder, but I was just trying to look at it as objectively as possible. {{{hugs}}} to you

thanks marissa, but you did raise some great points. Emotions and fairness…don’t always work well together!

Thank you everyone for responding to my question. If I missed anyone with a lurve…let me know. Thanks!

Well im pretty sure in some states its considered murder actually in most states. It is murder if someone does this. sick world

This popped up on my Google Reader this morning. It made me remember this question, so I thought I’d share.