HIV/AIDS legal issues in the United States

The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to be a leading public health issue in the United States. During the past decade, the epidemic has shifted away from the gay community, although gay and bisexual men continue to be the largest single HIV exposure category. Now, HIV increasingly affects low-income people of colour in urban areas, as well as women. As AIDS becomes more and more a minority, inner-city disease, public focus on the epidemic as a significant social and political issue is waning. While a full survey of current issues in US law is beyond the scope of this article, the focus here is on current issues that are highly relevant to the direction the epidemic appears to be taking.     

HIV/AIDS in prisons: recent developments

In a report released on 20 November 2002, entitled Action on HIV/AIDS in Prisons: Too Little, Too Late--A Report Card, the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network concluded that despite repeated studies and nearly ten years of recommendations for urgent and pragmatic action, the response of Canadian governments to HIV/AIDS, HCV, and injection drug use in prisons remains inadequate. Only a few weeks later, the House of Commons Special Committee on Non-Medical Use of Drugs released its report, which contained a number of recommendations to the Correctional Service of Canada. Although the Committee avoided talking about needle exchange programs in prisons, it did recommend them! Meanwhile, in Ireland, not even condoms or bleach are provided.     

HIV/AIDS and legal developments in Germany

Case law has helped to define the legal environment for people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS in Germany. This article describes court decisions in three areas that may be of interest to Canadian readers: criminal law, confidentiality, and the use of illegal drugs to control pain. It also describes the situation of refugees with HIV/AIDS.     

United Nations Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS

The United Nations General Assembly Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS calls for a fundamental shift in the response to HIV/AIDS.     

IP law and policy in the United States: trends and developments

Many scholars in political science and international relationshave discussed the obvious shift in world politics from theCold War period to the post-9/11 era. Nation-states now sharethe turbulent global stage with other important actors (eg non-governmentalorganizations and multinational corporations). The field ofUS intellectual property (IP) law is no different. The presentforces of globalization and technology have shaped the developmentand direction of IP policy. In a collection of six essays, ProfessorHugh Hansen, as editor of US Intellectual Property Law and Policy,invites readers to explore the trends of American IP law. Thesesix essays, as Professor Hansen rightly     

Conservative Sanctioning and Correctional Innovations in the United States: An Examination of Recent Trends

Since the late 1960s sanctioning and correctional policies and practices in the Unites States have increasingly turned punitive for many types of crimes and offenders. This paper examines three of the most prominent policy shifts in sanctioning and correctional policies in the last three decades, and brings together evidence of their broad impacts on incarceration, recidivism rates, specific segments of the offender population, and the court system.     

Recent employment and expenditure trends in city police departments in the United States

Trends in employment and expenditures in thirty-three major city police departments in the United States are separated into two groups and examined for the years 1959 through 1973. Among the items considered are: the size of the growth in city expenditures for the police on an absolute basis and in relation to expenditures for the provision of other services; changes in expenditures for salaries and wages and for the various types of fringe benefits; salary and wage increases for sworn police employees and for supervisory personnel, in inflated and in constant prices; and changes in the size and composition of police work forces. A number of interesting patterns emerge from this analysis and offer the basis for some inferences on possible future disputes and conflicts in this area.     

Criminal law and HIV/AIDS: strategic considerations

Richard Elliott's paper on criminal law and HIV/AIDS, an edited and updated version of his presentation at "Putting Third First," sets out five guiding principles for criminal law policy and HIV/AIDS; briefly outlines the rationales for criminalization; discusses three strategic legal questions regarding the criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure; and offers a number of recommendations for consideration of those needing to articulate a well-considered perspective on the ethical, legal, human rights, and public health dimensions of the criminalization of HIV transmission/exposure.     

Criminal law and HIV/AIDS: update IV

This regular column reviews new developments in the area of criminal prosecutions for HIV transmission or exposure, or developments that have come to our attention since the last issue. Canadian developments are the focus. Cases and legislation from other jurisdictions are only included if they represent a significant development in this area of the law or for the jurisdiction in question.