Law Commons^™

Rethinking Risk: The Relevance Of Condoms And Viral Load In Hiv Nondisclosure Prosecutions, Isabel Grant

All Faculty Publications

An HIV-positive individual who fails to disclose his or her status to a sexual partner may face charges ranging from nuisance to murder for such behaviour, with the most common charges being aggravated assault and aggravated sexual assault. The number of prosecutions in Canada against individuals who fail to disclose their HIV-positive status to their sexual partners has risen over the last ten years. At the same time, scientific advancements in treatment options and our understanding of transmission, condom usage, and viral load are constantly influencing the assessment of the risk that nondisclosure poses to the complainant in any given …