Violence in Pro Sports as Criminal Act in Canadian Justice System

Violent occurrences in professional sports hardly comes to the attention of the justice system, though they are natural and very common. Professional sports such as hockey involve many violent behaviours; however much too often do these aggressive behaviours become violent acts with the deliberate intent to hurt the opponent. There has been debate whether professional athletes “should be charged with a crime for activity that occurs during a sport contest” or should the sports organizations just deal with it. (Sports Crimes). The following paper will discuss why violence in professional sports should be considered a criminal act within the Canadian criminal justice system. To begin, this paper will address how violence within professional sports produces a risk to the players throughout the game. The paper will then focus on the rule of law; how professional sports violence contradicts the Canadian justice system. Finally, this paper will then move on to discuss how violence in professional sports promotes violence among society through, media streams, and personal encounters. Overall, violent acts within professional sports provides a threat to the players.

Players are at risk of being hurt due to the allowance of violence in professional sports.

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Not only does violence within professional sports produces a risk to the players physical health, but also their mental health. Players in professional sports such as The National Hockey League (NHL) that sustained head injuries due to violence within the sport are found to associated with mental health issues. Studies in Denmark have linked head injuries such as concussions to mental illnesses. Danish scientists have found that there is a 439 percent risk of increase in mental disorders as a result of head injuries. http://sciencenordic.com/head-injury-can-cause-mental-illness Derek Boogaard, a Canadian professional hockey player in the NHL died at the age of 28. Derek Boogaard was known as a fighter while playing for Minnestoa Wild and New York Rangers. https://globalnews.ca/news/1603417/the-sad-rise-and-fall-of-hockeys-derek-boogaard/ Derek Boogaard also known as ‘the boogeyman” or “The Mountie” died of an accidental drug and alcohol overdose while recovering from a concussion. It was later discovered in the autopsy that he had suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease that has been common among athletes in professional hockey. Symptoms of CTE include cognitive impairment, depression, emotional instability and suicidal thoughts. The release of the examination of Derek Boogaard came shortly after the deaths of two other hockey players, also enforcers and under the age of 40 had similar health issues. These three deaths sparked a debate in the hockey community about the concerns faced by fighters and their place in the game. https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nhl/2016/10/06/father-dead-ex-ny-rangers-player-no-friend-of-drug-supplier/91678318/ Ken Dryden, a formal NHL player is urging the National Hockey League to enforce new rules and penalize any play that involves a player making contact with the head of another. He believes will reduce the number of head traumas sustained by players during games. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-october-16-2017-1.4354024/concussions-affect-a-life-ken-dryden-wants-hockey-rules-changed-to-save-players-lives-1.4354030 'Concussions affect a life. They don't just affect the ability to play a sport,' Ken Dryden. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/the-current-for-october-16-2017-1.4354024/concussions-affect-a-life-ken-dryden-wants-hockey-rules-changed-to-save-players-lives-1.4354030 For athletes to experience this type of violence, mentally and physically, is lawless within itself. To reduce injuries, violence within sport needs to be seen as criminal under the justice system. Players like Derek Boogaard and many others should have been protected while playing. Now, current players need that protection or similar actions will occur to them because the human brain plays a critical role in controlling our behaviours and emotions.

The Criminal justice system that we abide states the guidelines and standards of conduct for everyone to follow. When a person commits a crime or disobeys the laws there are consequences to their actions which can vary from fines to incarceration depending on the severely of the crime. One such act of crime is assault and battery. The definition for assault is “a willful attempt or willful threat to inflict injury upon another person. A battery is the actual intentional physical contact” or the successful assault (sports Crime). Many injuries sustained in professional sports such as hockey or football would follow under the definition of assault and battery. Why is it that the general public are held accountable and can be sentenced to a crime of assault, yet the professional hockey player gets cheers along with a standing ovation for “assaulting” the opposing player during a game? Many would defend these acts as part of the game, that players are aware of the risks in contact sports and have consented to these risks. However, does this mean that they have consented to all forms and degrees of violence? In professional hockey there are cases such as R. v. Leclerc, in which the courts have recognized that the injured players consented to an expected level of violence, but the acts were so “inherently dangerous as to preclude such consent” (Violence in sport-it's your responsibility, too). The Leclerc case involved a non-contact recreational league, where the victim was hit in the back with a hockey stick sustaining a dislocation of the cervical spine causing him to be paralyzed from the neck down. (violence in sport) Many players have been taught to play aggressive and they have intentionally been asked or to assume this role of intentionally causing undue to harm to an opposing player. One famous case is that of Todd Bertuzzi of the Vancouver Canucks in which he “struck Colorado’s Steve Moore from behind and drove his face onto the ice” during a game in March 2004 (the law remains silent). Moore sustained three fractured vertebrae and a concussion. These injuries ended his career. In the case of Bertuzzui, he received a sentence of one-year probation and 80 hours of community service after he pleaded guilty to causing bodily harm (The law remains silent). Why was there no jail time? A civil suit was initiated by Moore, but the two parties settled before trial. This is not enough to deter athletes from committing these acts of violence in sporting competitions. These aggressive and intentional violent acts by these athletes should be considered assault/battery and be prosecuted in the courts.

Society has played a role in glorifying violence and violent behaviors through music, sports and the media. Many of these inflicted violence acts are criminal. However, these athletes that are committing violent acts during professional sport games are role models for younger athletes. In younger, recreational sports there are cases where violent acts are occurring in this non-contact level more often due to pressure that when they play the sport and imitate players just as in the professional leagues, their role models. If players hope to continue playing and strive for higher levels of competition, there is an impression that they must accept violence as part of the game. An example of this is the case in 1971, R. v. Leclerc, supporting that is not only occurring at the professional level but influencing the youth (violence in sport -it’s your responsibility). We have also witnessed when the violence on the rink or playing court spills over to the crowds. A prime example of this was when the Indiana Pacers played the Detroit Pistons on November 19, 2004 where fighting occurred not only on the court between players, but also into the crowd where players and spectators started fighting (The interplay between civil and criminal…). This incident resulted in both criminal and civil law prosecutions against involved players and spectators. The way this incident was handled has proven to be successful in preventing a similar incident from happening again and is strong positive support no violent acts of behavior are acceptable. Personal encounters such as how coaches play a role in encouraging violent behaviour, and their verbal behaviours can also have a lasting impact on a child. When parents and spectators cheer when fights break out, it shows children that this violent behaviour is okay. Media violence poses a risk to the public in as much as it leads to an increase in real-world violence and aggressive behaviours among society. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16533123 Such examples as showing replays of a violent hit in slow motion or how commentators and media personalities used discourses of approval and rationalisation for the violence are some of the ways the media conveyed the idea that “violence is acceptable, even desirable, behaviour and that violence-doers are to be admired” (Smith, 1983, p. 118).

To conclude, violence within professional sports must be a part of the Canadian criminal justice system. As mentioned, violence within professional sports poses a risk to players, contradicts the rule of law, and promotes violence among society. These support how the justice system should identify violence in sports as a criminal act. No matter if violence occurs on the ice, or in the street, it is still the same.

Reference:

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