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Louisiana’s Intentional Exposure to HIV Policy: The Social Construction of Target Populations

ABSTRACT In 1987, Louisiana became one of the first states to put laws in place to criminalize intentional HIV exposure. Unfortunately, the law does not correlate with science nor does it evidence any effectiveness in reductions in HIV transmissions. In spite of this, it took over 30 years before Louisiana’s HIV exposure criminalization law was amended to be more scientifically accurate. There remains little research to determine the impact this policy has on public health efforts to reduce transmissions of HIV. This article will apply the social construction of target populations theory to Louisiana’s HIV exposure criminalization law to explore the reasons for the action and inaction that led to the introduction and promotes the continued use of a law that does not demonstrate any effectiveness in actually reducing rates of HIV transmissions.