Crime and misconduct in sport

The global pandemic of 2020 brought about the suspension of almost all sporting activity. From grassroots sport through to elite competitions, the sporting world effectively ended. At the time of writing (early May 2020), there are tentative plans to restart some elite competitions, with the German Bundesliga and the Australian National Rugby League both announcing that competitions will recommence shortly. In both cases, the plan is to play games for a television audience only, in near-empty stadiums. In the months and years to come, it is likely that Sport in Society will see considerable debate as to the logistical problems in restarting sporting competition during and after a pandemic. For example, as spectators will not be able to attend matches and so there will be no game-day revenues. The purpose of competing is almost entirely to fulfill contractual obligations to television companies and sponsors, not because of any consideration for fans. It is also likely that the journal will see considerable debate as to the social and ethical problems of recommencing sporting competitions. For example, whilst players will need to be tested for COVID-19 on a regular basis, tests for first responders (medical staff, police, etc.) are currently in short supply

The 'development' of doping: identifying the antecedents of performance enhancing drug use in young athletes

Despite widespread recognition that prevention, rather than detection, remains the best strategy for eliminating banned performance enhancing drug (PED) use in sport, anti-doping research has typically only studied elite adult athletes. This paper examines the behaviours and attitudes of a cohort of 702 elite development athletes (12-17 years of age) with regard to PEDs. It describes the baseline (year 1) data from an ongoing three year longitudinal-sequential study. The broad aim of the research is to identify the factors (namely, morality and coaching environment) that may either foster or inhibit PED use, including both attitudes and actual doping behaviours. Surveys were distributed to secondary school athletes (defined as those competing at state level and above) through three large schools in Queensland, Australia

Athletes' and coaches' attitudes towards drugs in sport

[Extract] Literature review: Until very recently, research on doping in sport was confined to biological studies aimed at detecting drug use. The potential role of research into the attitudes of potential users was largely ignored (World Anti-Doping Agency, 2003) and has only recently begun to be explored. The noted lack of athlete participation in international antidoping policy development is not unusual. Some would suggest it reflects a lack of athlete participation in decisionmaking processes affecting their lives more generally. Antidoping policy researcher Barrie Houlihan (2004) summarizes the literature on international world-class antidoping policy when he writes that "anti-doping policy is generally made for, or on behalf of, athletes, rarely in consultation with athletes, and almost never in partnership with athletes" (pp. 421-422)

The final frontier of anti-doping: a study of athletes who have committed doping violations

Although the use of banned drugs in sport is not a new phenomenon, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of athletes who have committed anti-doping rule violations. This study qualitatively explored the experiences of 18 athletes (from the sports of bodybuilding, powerlifting, cricket, sprint kayak, rugby league, and swimming) who had committed anti-doping violations. Themes explored included motivations for initiating and maintaining doping, the psychology of doping, deterrents to doping, and views on current anti-doping policy. In most cases doping had started early in their careers. The perceived culture of the sport was considered central to the ‘normalization’ of doping, particularly in bodybuilding. When explaining their decision to dope, athletes engaged in processes or moral disengagement (including advantageous comparison, minimizing consequences and diffusion of responsibility). Ironically, moral arguments were perceived as the most effective deterrents to doping. Findings are discussed in relation to the difficulties in establishing credible deterrents and suggestions for the future development of anti-doping policy

Dying to Win? The Goldman Dilemma in Legend and Fact

One of the implicit justifications for antidoping is that athletes are so committed to winning that they will take performance-enhancing substances regardless of the apparent consequences. Athletes are alleged to be, quite literally, willing to die to win. Support for this claim usually centers on the results of research by physician Bob Goldman, in which athletes were asked to respond to a hypothetical dilemma in which they were offered spectacular success in their chosen sport, but at a heavy price: they would die after five years of glory. In this paper, we examine the origins of this bargain, now popularly referred to as the Goldman dilemma, finding that both the methodology and implications of the original work have repeatedly been described inaccurately in both popular and scientific writings. These errors reflect both poor scholarship and deliberate misuse, where the flawed narrative is used to justify contentious policy decisions

Adaptación transcultural de un cuestionario para estudiar actitudes de adolescentes deportistas y no deportistas españoles ante el consumo de sustancias prohibidas [Transcultural adaptation of a questionnaire to assess the attitudes of Spanish adolescent athletes and non-athletes towards banned substances]

[Extract Spanish] Medir la influencia del impacto que generan los deportistas de élite sobre el comportamiento y las actitudes de los adolescentes que se inician en el deporte es un tema complicado y controvertido (Engelberg, Moston & Skinner, 2012). Para muchos, los atletas de élite son modelos a seguir y son posiblemente donde más se reflejan diferentes miembros de la comunidad, entre ellos los adolescentes. Sin embargo muchos atletas de élite rechazan el ser un "modelo a seguir", con el argumento de que otros (como los padres, los entrenadores y los compañeros) juegan un papel mucho más importante a la hora de influir en el comportamiento (Engelberg, Moston & Skinner, 2012). Cualquier intento de resolver este debate siempre se centra en el mecanismo por el cual un atleta de élite puede influir en los demás. Según la teoría del aprendizaje social, donde el comportamiento de modelos de conducta es imitado por otros, se suele utilizar para explicar sobre la probabilidad de una conducta desviada (Bandura, 1977). Sobre la base de la teoría del aprendizaje social, se puede argumentar que los atletas de élite cuyo consumo de drogas se hace pública están facilitando el comportamiento inadecuado por parte de los adolescentes (Strelan & Boeckmann, 2006). La investigación en ciencias sociales sobre el dopaje se ha convertido en un tema de investigación académica en Australia y en numerosos países del extranjero, sin embargo existen asombrosamente pocas comparaciones interculturales o transnacionales de poblaciones deportivas y no deportivas, entre los mismos. Teniendo en cuenta los diversos contextos culturales, políticos, sociales y deportes específicos que tienen un impacto en las actitudes y comportamientos de los deportistas, se trata de una omisión sorprendente. Este estudio es una adaptación transcultural, réplica parcial y una extensión de un estudio actualmente en curso en Australia (el desarrollo de actitudes de seguimiento al dopaje: un estudio longitudinal de jóvenes deportistas de élite) y un estudio (la relación entre el código moral, la participación en el deporte y las actitudes hacia las drogas en los jóvenes que mejoran el rendimiento). El estudio cuenta con una muestra de 339 jóvenes españoles (1217 años) atletas tanto en el ámbito recreativo y élite como no atletas. Los resultados de esta investigación ayudarán a futuras investigaciones financiadas tanto a nivel nacional como internacional. Abract (English): Despite the global growth of science research on doping in sport, there have been very few cross-national or cross-cultural comparisons of athletes and non-athletes. The present study is an adaptation and partial replication of a study of young development athletes previously conducted in Australia. The present study canvassed the attitudes and behaviours of 339 Spanish adolescents (ages 12-17, both athletes and non-athletes, all residing in Madrid, Spain). Its main aim was to explore the incidence of drug use amongst the sample (both of performance and image enhancing drugs [PIEDs] and of illicit drugs) and their knowledge of doping in sport. Surveys were distributed within schools. Each survey consisted of five sections covering demographic information, attitudes towards doping substances, attitudes towards deterrents to banned PIED use; questions examining perceptions of the consequences of the use of doping substances, and knowledge of doping substances. Selected findings include: Over half of the participants believed that banned PIEDs improve performance, (e.g., strength and power, speed); about 42% believed they are dangerous to health; the large majority of participants had never taken an anti-doping test (92%); 87% stated they would not use PIEDs to improve their sporting performance; and almost half of all participants believed that cycling was the sport in which PIEDs were most commonly used. Results are discussed in relation to current anti-doping campaigns that target adolescents and emphasise the need to focus on suitable deterrents for this population

El fenómeno del dopaje desde la perspectiva de las Ciencias Sociales Odile

En este libro se recoge una selección de las comunicaciones presentadas en el IV Congreso Internacional ‘Deporte, Dopaje y Sociedad’ que se celebró en Madrid del 26 de febrero al 1 de marzo de 2014 y que fue organizado conjuntamente por la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid y la Agencia Española de Protección de la Salud en el Deporte. Los textos están escritos en español, francés e inglés y abordan el estudio del fenómeno del dopaje desde el ámbito especifico de las Ciencias Humanas y Sociales a través de disciplinas como Historia, Derecho, Sociología, Psicología, Economía, Ciencias de la Información y otras disciplinas relacionadas

Investigative interviewing of suspects in Australia

In Australia the criminal justice system is largely the responsibility of the states (there are six) and territories (two), with each state and territory having its own police force, laws and justice system. The Commonwealth, in the form of the Australian Federal Police, which was established in 1979, only takes responsibility for a limited range of offences, including national and international operations, and peacekeeping (Fleming 2004).\ud \ud Surprisingly little primary research has been conducted in this country on investigative interviews with suspects. Instead, research has tended to focus on perceptions of the investigative process, with studies exploring the views of judges, prosecutors, defence lawyers, police officers, the public and even defendants (e.g. Dixon 2006; Moston and\ud Fisher 2006; Kebbell et al. 2006). The reasons for this particular focus are complex, but centre on a deep-seated distrust (in both directions) between academics and police officers. This chapter will explore what we currently objectively know about investigative interviewing practices\ud in Australia, with data mainly coming from a series of thorough (but narrowly focused) audit commissions, and also how the various players in the criminal justice system see the legislation, technology and operational practice of interviewing. It focuses on the investigative interviewing of suspects in criminal investigations, and thus excludes\ud some interesting and innovative work on the interviewing of children who have witnessed criminal activity (e.g. Wilson and Powell 2001; Powell et al. 2002; Powell and Thomson 2003)

Public perception of sport anti-doping policy in Australia

Aims: An implicit rationale for anti-doping legislation is that doping damages the public image of sport and that this, in turn, has serious consequences for the sporting industry. However, there is scant evidence that doping impacts on public opinion, and even less so that it has dire consequences for sports consumerism. This study sought to fill a void in public policy debate by canvassing public opinion on a range of anti-doping policies and practices.\ud \ud Methods: A representative sample of the Australian public (n = 2520) responded to a telephone survey with questions on performance enhancing and illicit drug use.\ud \ud Findings: The majority agreed that clubs should be penalized if athletes were found to use drugs and that companies and government should stop sponsoring athletes who have been using drugs. Opinion was split on the issue of whether performance-enhancing drug use should be criminalized (slight majority in favour).\ud \ud Conclusions: These results show that the Australian public support anti-doping measures. As anti-doping initiatives become more widespread, invasive and costly, policy makers will need to ensure that anti-doping legislation maintains strong public support

Investigative interviewing of suspects in Australia

Part 1 of the book opens with a chapter written by Dr Stephen Moston, James Cook University, Queensland, who examines the area of investigative interviewing in Australia. Moston makes a critical historical review of cases and research examining interviewing in this jurisdiction. He also examines the use of video recording within the interview room, which was pioneered in Australia