The Challenges of HIV/AIDS Criminal Legislation in Botswana

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Penn collection
Botswana-UPenn Scholarly Publications
Degree type
Discipline
Subject
Criminology and Criminal Justice
Health Policy
Immune System Diseases
Legislation
Public Health
Funder
Grant number
License
Copyright date
Distributor
Related resources
Author
Kebonang, Zein
Contributor
Abstract

In an attempt to halt the spread of the HIV epidemic, the Government of Botswana amended in 1998 the country’s criminal code to provide for stiffer penalties for those charged and convicted of the offence of rape. In particular, there was to be compulsory HIV testing of perpetrators and much stiffer sentences for those who tested positive to the HIV virus. In this paper, I argue that the amendment not only vitiates the right to voluntarily submit to an HIV test, it invades the right to privacy and leads to unwarranted disclosure of confidential information. In addition, I contend that the punitive criminal sentences that follow a positive HIV test are not an appropriate way of preventing transmission as these are not likely to encourage people to voluntarily test for HIV. Punitive sanctions are only justified where it can be shown that a person acted intentionally to transmit the disease.

Advisor
Date Range for Data Collection (Start Date)
Date Range for Data Collection (End Date)
Digital Object Identifier
Series name and number
Publication date
2012-03-01
Journal title
Cancer and Clinical Oncology
Volume number
Issue number
Publisher
Publisher DOI
Journal Issue
Comments
Recommended citation
Collection