Criminal Law And Violence In Sports

Criminal Law and Violence in Sports

In general, many issues related to sport are great pending subjects within criminal law. This does not occur only in Spain, but is also reflected in the legislation of many other nations.

In this way, it is not to be surprised that several countries are reformulating their criminal code to begin to account for central issues in sports activity, such as civil liability for injuries, the legal treatment of doping or constant violence insport zones.

Until today, most of the allegations and sanctioning processes of the sports field were only in an administrative-disciplinary sphere. The infractions committed by athletes and their surroundings hardly led to a legal action, but were treated by the organs with disciplinary power within the sports field.

However, the unfortunate parade of complaints, accusations and scandals in the sports world has made it clear that criminal law needs to get involved in sport to ensure that, in many cases, the law will be enforced equally for all citizens.

Probably, this of violence in sport is the most critical point in the relationship of criminal law and sports activity;among other things because both internal actors and fans involve.

The cases of violence used to undergo only a sanctioning process conducted by the organs of sports justice that have disciplinary power;generally represented by the Federative Disciplinary Committees those responsible for imparting sports justice in disciplinary terms.

From the reform presented in 2013, the Spanish Criminal Code would begin to consider violence in sport as a crime.  Those who, within sports spaces, will practice violent acts or speeches that incite violence could be sentenced to penalties in jail up to four years and six months.

It is also important to highlight that these sanctions would not only apply to the events that occurred within sports establishments, but also in the surroundings. This was an important advance in criminal law applicable to sport, since until then it focused on the events that occurred only inside the game fields.

Doping and Criminal Law: How are doping crimes sanction?

For speaking on controversial issues in the relationship of sport with criminal law, one of the most curious cases is the so -called doping crime. According to article 362 of the Spanish Criminal Code, penalty is expected in prison of six months to two years for those who incur said crime. In addition to fines and disqualification for the exercise of professional activity or trade.

In this way, we would assume that athletes and other actors in the sports field could be sentenced to fulfill time in prison for doping. But reality is not so simple … if the Criminal Code is strictly followed, it would be illogical.

What happens is that, according to the text of article 362, penalties apply only to those who provide, facilitate or administer such therapeutic non -the athletes to athletes. That is, the athlete is sought to protect the possible damage caused by third parties.

The problem is that it does not contemplate that athletes can violate the norms and commit such a crime consciously and voluntarily, by their own means.

This lagoon in criminal law applicable to sport has made it necessary.

Sports injuries, civil liability and criminal law

Civil liability consists in the possibility of imputing a person for the consequences caused by their actions on third parties. But if we carry this concept towards the sports field, when can you talk about civil liability involved by sports injuries?

Of course, practicing any sports modality implies voluntarily accepting certain risks, among which is the possibility of injuring during training or competitions. However, if the injury derives from non -regulatory actions, that is, they violate the rules of the game, we are supposed to talk about civil liability in sports.

But once again, reality is not so simple … because the center of the debate always falls on the intentionality of the acts of those who cause the injury;what could be called guilt in action.

It is not difficult to imagine how complex it is to verify that a person has acted intentionally and consciously during a sports competition, in which everything happens very fast and all are full of adrenaline.