AEGiS-APPJ: Self-Incrimination, Partner Notification, and the Criminal Law: Negatives for the CDC's 'Prevention for Positives' Initiative

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

Self-Incrimination, Partner Notification, and the Criminal Law: Negatives for the CDC's 'Prevention for Positives' Initiative

AIDS & Public Policy Journal 19, no. 1/2 (Spring/Summer 2004) 54-66
David W. Webber

On 18 April 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a new HIV prevention initiative, "Prevention for Positives," which emphasizes partner-notification activities for individuals who have already been diagnosed with HIV. The CDC failed, however, to address significant criminal law issues that are presented by this initiative. The proposed partner notification activities involve patients' voluntary identification of contacts at risk for HIV transmission. But because all states have laws that make it a crime to knowingly expose another person to HIV, information provided by patients for partner-notification purposes is in most cases evidence of a crime. Little if any confidentiality protections prevent law enforcement officials from obtaining test results, records of counseling sessions, or similar information from the records of health or social service providers. Prevention for Positives thus exposes patients to an unacknowledged risk of criminal prosecution, which may severely inhibit future cooperation among those infected. This problem should be addressed by law and policy reforms, including enhanced confidentiality of partner-notification records and the availability of "use and derivative use" immunity that bars prosecution of patients based on the information they provide in partner-notification programs.
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