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About Abuse

Abuse Among People Living with HIV/AIDS

Updated: July 30, 2024

What are HIV and AIDS?

HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system and, if left untreated, can lead to AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome).  People living with HIV may or may not have AIDS, depending on how their health is being affected by the virus. You can read more about this on HIV.gov.1

Note: For this section, we will use the term “people living with HIV” since it’s inclusive of people living with AIDS as well.

1 HIV.gov, “What Are HIV and AIDS?”

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What is HIV criminalization?

HIV criminalization is the process through which people living with HIV are criminalized or face penalties due to their HIV-positive status. An abuser might use these criminal laws as a way to intimidate the victim; for example, threatening to falsely make a police report alleging that the victim violated one of these laws.  To determine if laws like this exist within your state, please see The Center for HIV Law & Policy’s website.

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