This Article focuses on one especially punitive and underexamined consequence of HIV criminalisation: in six states, individuals convicted under HIV-specific statutes must register as sex offenders, a designation forty other states may enforce through reciprocal registration laws. Although these provisions may survive constitutional scrutiny, they can produce outcomes that are deeply unjust and untethered from any principled theory of punishment.
This Article argues that mandatory sex offender registration for HIV-related convictions cannot be justified under prevailing punishment theories, which require proportionality, harm prevention, and moral condemnation linked to culpability.