Thanks to co-funding obtained from Justice Canada, the Project started working on the issue of criminalization of HIV transmission in November 1995. A discussion paper is being prepared and will be available in March 1996. It will address the various questions raised by the issue and propose a variety of means of resolving the issue. Most were written in the US, but there is a fairly large and growing body of Canadian literature. The experiences in the US with some of the statutes enacted there can be valuable for Canada, and the conclusions reached in the articles reviewing them should be taken into account in deciding whether such an offence should be enacted here, and, if so, what it should look like.
Most articles follow the same pattern.
There is disagreement about whether the criminal law should intervene at all. According to her, anyone who knowingly engages in high-risk conduct and does not inform the other participant deserves condemnation, and the strongest way to express that condemnation is through the criminal law. We need an outlet for expression of outrage at such wilful or reckless behaviour. However, he admits that the use of the criminal sanction to punish and deter conduct likely to result in transmission of HIV raises serious doubts about the purposes of the criminal law and its efficacy in dealing with problems such as HIV transmission. Shekter sees only a limited role for the criminal law.