The Williams Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles School of Law has released a new study examining the intersection of the HIV epidemic and the over-policing of Black Americans. “Black people in the United States are more likely to be diagnosed and live with HIV while also having less access to HIV treatment and prevention. Black Americans also experience greater police surveillance and harsher punishment in the criminal legal system,” the authors write. “Together, these twin epidemics place Black people in the U.S. living with HIV at increased risk of criminal legal system involvement because of both their race and HIV status.”
For their study, the authors examined data between 2015 and 2025 from 16 states regarding the enforcement of HIV-related criminal laws, which are those that make otherwise legal conduct illegal or create harsher penalties for illegal conduct because of a person’s HIV-positive status. In 64 percent of states analyzed for their study, Black Americans were arrested at higher rates than their share of people living with HIV in the state. For example, in California, Black people were 6 percent of the state population and 18 percent of people living with HIV, but 39 percent of HIV-related arrests. In Maryland, Black people were 30 percent of the state population, but 71 percent of Marylanders living with HIV and 82 percent of HIV-related arrests in the state.
Black Americans are significantly more likely to be convicted of HIV-related allegations. Across all 16 states analyzed, Black Americans were convicted at higher rates than their overall share of the state population. In 75 percent of states analyzed, Black Americans were convicted at higher rates than their share of people living with HIV in the state. In Nevada, Black people were 10 percent of the state’s population and 28 percent of people living with HIV in the state, but 43 percent of HIV-related convictions. In Virginia, Black men accounted for about 18 percent the state’s population but 68 percent of HIV-related convictions.
In all states analyzed, Black Americans are more likely than other Americans to be placed on a sex offender registry for an HIV-related conviction. Black people represent 32 percent of the state population and 64 percent of people living with HIV in Louisiana, but nearly three quarters of people on the state’s registry with an HIV-related conviction. In Tennessee, where Black people are 17 percent of the overall population and 55 percent of people living with HIV, Black Americans are 74 percent of people on the sex offender registry with an HIV-related conviction.
The study also found that HIV criminalization among Black Americans varies by gender. In Tennessee, Black women represent 57 percent and Black men represent 22 percent of people on the state’s sex offender registry for an HIV-related sex work conviction. In contrast, Black men were 64 percent of people on Tennessee’s sex offender registry for an HIV-related exposure conviction; only 4 percent were Black women.
