NCJ Number
116175
Journal
John Marshall Law Review Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: (Summer 1988) Pages: 777-830
Date Published
1988
Length
54 pages
Annotation
This article examines legislation that attempts to regulate AIDS by testing suspected AIDS carriers and quarantining known AIDS carriers, comparing these actions with historical antecedents that linked disease and dirt with sexual disorders and prostitution and proposing less punitive public health policies.
Abstract
After examining what is know about the AIDS virus, the article reviews the public health response to prostitution and contagious diseases in the late 1800s, emphasizing that period's reliance on involuntary testing and quarantining. Current public health arguments that would use involuntary testing and quarantines to manage AIDS are directly related to those of the 1800s, the article argues. The article reviews case law dealing with the rights of AIDS patients and argues that the Constitution protects against punitive procedures applied to AIDS sufferers. Government policy should not focus on scapegoating or on punishing what is perceived to be deviant sexual activity. Instead, enlightened policy should focus on education. 292 footnotes.