UK News

Many more criminal HIV prosecutions ‘unlikely’

Long awaited new guidelines from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in cases of intentional or reckless sexual transmission of HIV were released this spring.

And they were generally welcomed by HIV campaigners as a helpful move which should remove confusion about criminal HIV transmission prosecutions.

The new guidelines, which just cover prosecutions in England and Wales, come after consultation across the HIV sector over the last two years.

“We recognise that obtaining sufficient evidence to prove intentional or reckless transmission of infection will be difficult and it is unlikely that there will be many prosecutions,” the CPS said.

Full details of the CPS guidelines are available on the THT and NAT websites (www.tht.org.uk & www.nat.org.uk) but the seven key points are:
1. Prosecutions are unlikely to take place as a result of one-off sexual encounters.
2. Scientific evidence must be used to show that the defendant infected the complainant.
3. The defendant has to have known they were infected when transmission took place.
4. The CPS must prove the defendant understood that they were infectious and how the infection is transmitted.
5. Informed consent is a defence against a charge of reckless transmission of HIV.
6. Consistent condom use is a defence against reckless HIV transmission.
7. Transmission must take place for a recklessness charge.

Both THT and NAT welcomed the new guidelines.
“The new CPS guidelines will go a long way towards removing confusion, cutting the most inappropriate investigations short and clarifying where people with HIV and other STIs stand if they transmit them,” said Lisa Power of THT.

And NAT’s Deborah Jack added: “This new guidance from the CPS is helpful in clarifying the prosecution process. The level of evidence needed to prove intentional or reckless sexual transmission of infection has rightly been set very high and it is unlikely that there will be many prosecutions.”