Book Report #2: Punishing Disease, HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness by Trevor Hoppe
Introduction:
Trevor Hoppe in his novel Punishing Disease, HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness provides a narrative f or how public health has affected those living with HIV throughout HIV’s debut to the public in the 1980s to the present. Hoppe visits the history of how the public health handles disease outbreaks and relates that to how their tactics lead to the stigmatism of HIV and ultimately HIV’s criminalization. Once criminalized, it is dissected how the justice system has managed to criminalize a community of people through illusions of harm and invasion of their private lives. Its criminalization also reveals how race, sexuality, and gender …show more content…
When analyzing the different methods of “coercion”, Hoppe highlights how those seen as more favorable in the eyes of the public are allowed better options of quarantine or safety methods when compared to those of poor favor, such as lower status individuals or persons’ of color. Hoppe explains this phenomenon through the stories of individuals throughout history, such as Mary Mallon, that became its unwilling participants after contracting a contagious disease. The stories of those who became victims to the public health’s methods without a diagnosis, such as alcoholics and prostitutes, are also discussed to support how public health is used to …show more content…
Lawyers and judges throughout cases used outdated information based upon stigmatism against HIV positive individuals with more force that was necessary for the case. Hoppe visits the information of several cases in which this occurred including the case of Brenda J. and Franklin C. The cases span before treatment had been discovered for those living with HIV and after. It is noted that even after treatment, HIV positive individuals still had the poorly informed stigmatism of HIV being a death sentence and false medical information used against them. Even with the discovery that those with an undetectable viral load, spitting, and biting have low percentage of passing it on, it was still used in court that they were intentionally spreading a “death sentence”. Now convicted, they face harsh punishments and long
Introduction:
Trevor Hoppe in his novel Punishing Disease, HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness provides a narrative f or how public health has affected those living with HIV throughout HIV’s debut to the public in the 1980s to the present. Hoppe visits the history of how the public health handles disease outbreaks and relates that to how their tactics lead to the stigmatism of HIV and ultimately HIV’s criminalization. Once criminalized, it is dissected how the justice system has managed to criminalize a community of people through illusions of harm and invasion of their private lives. Its criminalization also reveals how race, sexuality, and gender …show more content…
When analyzing the different methods of “coercion”, Hoppe highlights how those seen as more favorable in the eyes of the public are allowed better options of quarantine or safety methods when compared to those of poor favor, such as lower status individuals or persons’ of color. Hoppe explains this phenomenon through the stories of individuals throughout history, such as Mary Mallon, that became its unwilling participants after contracting a contagious disease. The stories of those who became victims to the public health’s methods without a diagnosis, such as alcoholics and prostitutes, are also discussed to support how public health is used to …show more content…
Lawyers and judges throughout cases used outdated information based upon stigmatism against HIV positive individuals with more force that was necessary for the case. Hoppe visits the information of several cases in which this occurred including the case of Brenda J. and Franklin C. The cases span before treatment had been discovered for those living with HIV and after. It is noted that even after treatment, HIV positive individuals still had the poorly informed stigmatism of HIV being a death sentence and false medical information used against them. Even with the discovery that those with an undetectable viral load, spitting, and biting have low percentage of passing it on, it was still used in court that they were intentionally spreading a “death sentence”. Now convicted, they face harsh punishments and long