Jonathan Zimmerman: AIDS, Sex, and Crime: Why is Darren Chiacchia Facing Jail Time?
[Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at New York University. He is the author, most recently, of “Small Wonder: The Little Red Schoolhouse in History and Memory.”]
In 1943, the National Advisory Police Committee on Social Protection released a report on its wartime efforts to combat venereal disease. Whenever a soldier or sailor was found to have venereal disease, the report explained, he was required to notify officials about “the source of his infection.” The agency would then track down and arrest the person – inevitably a woman – who had infected him....
I recalled this history as I read about the recent arrest of Olympian equestrian Darren Chiacchia, who faces up to 30 years in prison. His crime? Having sex without informing his partner that he was HIV-positive, which is a felony in Mr. Chiacchia’s native Florida....
During World War I, for example, about 30,000 women were incarcerated in America on suspicion of spreading venereal disease. Some of these women were prostitutes, while others were so-called charity girls who allegedly traded sexual favors for a night on the town.
At least twice as many women were arrested during World War II, as historian Marilyn Hegarty has shown. “A much more difficult problem than the out and out professional prostitute is that of the promiscuous girl, the khaki-wacky and the girl who has become unbalanced by wartime wages and freedom,” one observer wrote. “Following them is a public-health function.” Indeed it was. Spearheaded by former FBI Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, who had helped convict the gangster Al Capone, federal and state officials launched an all-out war on suspected female carriers of the disease. Police questioned scores of young women, incarcerating anyone who seemed “loose” or promiscuous....
Fast-forward to the AIDS epidemic of the late 1980s, which unleashed a wave of state laws criminalizing the transmission of HIV. Nobody knows how many people have been prosecuted under such measures. But here’s what we do know: The laws reflect hysteria and prejudice, just like the anti-VD campaigns of earlier eras....
Read entire article at CS Monitor
In 1943, the National Advisory Police Committee on Social Protection released a report on its wartime efforts to combat venereal disease. Whenever a soldier or sailor was found to have venereal disease, the report explained, he was required to notify officials about “the source of his infection.” The agency would then track down and arrest the person – inevitably a woman – who had infected him....
I recalled this history as I read about the recent arrest of Olympian equestrian Darren Chiacchia, who faces up to 30 years in prison. His crime? Having sex without informing his partner that he was HIV-positive, which is a felony in Mr. Chiacchia’s native Florida....
During World War I, for example, about 30,000 women were incarcerated in America on suspicion of spreading venereal disease. Some of these women were prostitutes, while others were so-called charity girls who allegedly traded sexual favors for a night on the town.
At least twice as many women were arrested during World War II, as historian Marilyn Hegarty has shown. “A much more difficult problem than the out and out professional prostitute is that of the promiscuous girl, the khaki-wacky and the girl who has become unbalanced by wartime wages and freedom,” one observer wrote. “Following them is a public-health function.” Indeed it was. Spearheaded by former FBI Prohibition agent Eliot Ness, who had helped convict the gangster Al Capone, federal and state officials launched an all-out war on suspected female carriers of the disease. Police questioned scores of young women, incarcerating anyone who seemed “loose” or promiscuous....
Fast-forward to the AIDS epidemic of the late 1980s, which unleashed a wave of state laws criminalizing the transmission of HIV. Nobody knows how many people have been prosecuted under such measures. But here’s what we do know: The laws reflect hysteria and prejudice, just like the anti-VD campaigns of earlier eras....
And this is about sex, our most intimate human behavior. It’s sometimes impulsive, often confused, and always personal. And that’s exactly why the government should stay out of it.
The lone exception here might be the rare case where a particularly warped or troubled individual is actually attempting to spread HIV as widely as possible. Consider the case of Nushawn Williams of Jamestown, New York, who recently completed a 12-year jail sentence for trying to infect at least a dozen women with the virus. Mr. Williams was prosecuted under existing laws at the time, including reckless endangerment. There’s simply no good reason to add other measures targeting HIV.