Intimacy and Responsibility: The Criminalisation of HIV Transmission

In what circumstances and on what basis, should those who transmit serious diseases to their sexual partners be criminalised? In this new book Matthew Weait uses English case law as the basis of a more general and critical analysis of the response of the criminal courts to those who have been convicted of transmitting HIV during sex.

Examining cases and engaging with the socio-cultural dimensions of HIV/AIDS and sexuality, he provides readers with an important insight into the way in which the criminal courts construct the concepts of harm, risk, causation, blame and responsibility.

Taking into account the socio-cultural issues surrounding HIV/AIDS and their interaction with the law, Weait has written an excellent book for postgraduate and undergraduate law and criminology students studying criminal law theory, the trial process, offences against the person, and the politics of criminalisation. The book will also be of interest to health professionals working in the field of HIV/AIDS genito-urinary medicine who want to understand the issues that may face their clients and patients.

Matthew Weait is Senior Lecturer in Law and Legal Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London.  His research interests centre on the impact of law on people living with HIV and AIDS.  He has advised a wide range of HIV/AIDS organisations both in the UK and abroad, including the WHO and UNAIDS.