Doping by adolescent soccer players

Introduction: There is evidence that between 3% to 5% of young athletes use performance enhancing drugs that are identified as doping and thereby banned under the World Anti-Doping Code. The incidence of doping varies by factors such as type of sport, age of respondents, type of drugs, and method of data collection. Soccer is one of a handful of sports not to be associated with doping. The longstanding position of authorities has been that there is no systematic doping in soccer as it is believed that doping in skill based sports offers few advantages to players. Methods: The present study examined doping attitudes, beliefs (including perceived effect on health) and behaviours in 78 soccer players (aged 12 to 17 years). The method of data collection was a self-completion survey. Results: It was found that 5% of the players were doping, many for image rather than performance enhancement. A quarter of players personally knew a player in their competitive grade who was using banned performance enhancing drugs. The participants estimated that about 16% of soccer players are doping. Conclusions: The study shows that some young soccer players are doping and others express attitudes and beliefs that suggest they too may dope in the future. Young soccer players do not differ from other adolescent athletes. Soccer faces the same doping threats as other modern sports and should ensure that its coaches and administrators do not falsely believe that their players are immune to allure of doping

Interviewing suspects: examining the association between skills, questioning, evidence disclosure, and interview outcomes

The interviewing of suspects is an important element in the investigation of crime. However, studies concerning actual performance of investigators when undertaking such interviews remain sparse. Nevertheless, in England and Wales, since the introduction of a prescribed framework over 20 years ago, field studies have generally shown an improvement in interviewing performance, notwithstanding ongoing concerns largely relating to the more demanding aspects (such as building/maintaining rapport, intermittent summarising and the logical development of topics). Using a sample of 70 real-life interviews, the present study examined questioning and various evidence disclosure strategies (which have also been found demanding), examining their relationships between interview skills and interview outcomes. It was found that when evidence was disclosed gradually (but revealed later), interviews were generally both more skilled and involved the gaining of comprehensive accounts, whereas when evidence was disclosed either early or very late, interviews were found to be both less skilled and less likely to involve this outcome. These findings contribute towards an increased research base for the prescribed framework

Police Strategies and Suspect Responses in Real-Life Serious Crime Interviews

This research focuses exclusively on real-life taped interviews with serious crime suspects and examines the strategies used and types of questions asked by police, and suspects’ responses to these. The information source was audio-tape-recorded interviews with 56 suspects. These recordings were obtained from 11 police services across England and Wales and were analysed using a specially designed coding frame. It was found that interviewers employed a range of strategies with presentation of evidence and challenge the most frequently observed. Closed questions were by far the most frequently used, and open questions, although less frequent, were found to occur more during the opening phases of the interviews. The frequency of ineffective question types (e.g. negative, repetitive, multiple) was low. A number of significant associations were observed between interviewer strategies and suspect responses. Rapport/empathy and open-type questions were associated with an increased likelihood of suspects admitting the offence whilst describing trauma, and negative questions were associated with a decreased likelihood

One way or another? Criminal investigators' beliefs regarding the disclosure of evidence in interviews with suspects in England and Wales

The research base concerning interviews with suspects remains to be comprehensively developed. For example, the extant literature provides differing views regarding how best to undertake the important interview task of disclosing evidence. In the current study, using a self-report questionnaire, 224 investigators based in England and Wales were asked as to their own preferred methods. Most respondents advocated a gradual method of disclosing evidence, stating that this approach would better reveal inconsistencies and obtain a complete version of events (similar to the reasoning of those who preferred disclosing evidence later). Those who advocated revealing evidence early stated this approach would more likely elicit confessions. Several respondents would not commit to one single method, arguing that their chosen strategy was contextually dependent. The study’s findings suggest that it remains arguable as to whether there is one best approach to evidence disclosure and/or whether particular circumstances should influence interviewing strategies

Investigative interviewing of suspects in Australia

Moston, SJ ORCiD: 0000-0002-5231-9713Part 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

The spirit of sport?

Moston, SJ ORCiD: 0000-0002-5231-9713In the 1970s and 1980s the use of performance enhancing drugs was increasingly being linked to the deaths of elite athletes, mainly cyclists (Verroken, 2000). As a direct response to these problems, and to assist in the international standardisation of anti-doping efforts, in 1999 the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was created. WADA then developed the first World Anti-Doping Code (WADA, 2003), which periodically undergoes revisions. The current edition (WADA, 2009) will be superseded by the third edition, scheduled for release in 2015. The two papers in this issue (Henne, Koh, & McDermott, 2013; Waddington, Christiansen, Gleaves, Hoberman, & Møller, 2013) address an apparent inconsistency in the Code concerning the inclusion of illicit, non-performance enhancing drugs (NPEDS)

Can doping really be prevented?

Anti-doping authorities believe that prevention, rather than detection, is the best strategy for eliminating drug use in sport. For example, WADA believes that "a long-term solution to preventing doping is through effective values-based education programs that can foster anti-doping behaviours and create a strong anti-doping culture." But can we ever truly eradicate doping

A typology of denial strategies by suspects in criminal investigations

Moston, SJ ORCiD: 0000-0002-5231-9713In this chapter we propose a typology of denials made by suspects in police interviews. This is an important forensic topic, first, because police officers need to consider in advance of an interview the likely strategies that might be adopted by those who intend to deceive them concerning their involvement in a criminal offence. Can officers nullify such attempts before the suspect commits to such a strategy? How should they respond if such a denial is not averted? Secondly, and perhaps more important still, is the ability to distinguish between the denials of those intent on deceit and those who are genuinely innocent of any involvement. Should all denials be treated with scepticism? Or should all denials be taken at face value pending discovery of contradictory evidence? Should denials be welcomed on the grounds that evidence will subsequently be used to prove the intention to deceive? Or should denials best be circumvented by adroit questioning, in the hope that a confession will subsequently be elicited? We shall see that experts are not at one on these issues (e.g. Gudjonsson, 2006 ) and, moreover, that there is a dearth of evidence about the form that denials take generally. Before examining the questions further, we shall describe briefly what is known about the opposite stance taken by suspects: confession to the crime in connection with which they are being interviewed

The presumption of guilt relating to athletes accused of doping

Moston, SJ ORCiD: 0000-0002-5231-9713Stephen Moston and Terry Engelberg of James Cook University provide details on their archival study of 100 consecutive sanctioned ADRVs in Australia, 23 cases of which involved claims that the ADRV was accidental or inadvertent. Stephen and Terry use their findings to pose questions about the presumption of guilt relating to doping and stress that future iterations of the WADA Code should include the consideration of intention