Week 3: SPORTS VIOLENCE AND THE LAW Flashcards
REMEMBER: R. v. _____ is a Canadian criminal case which means Canada vs Person ____ v. ____ is a civil case Person vs Person sometimes theres a C instead of a V which means that it is a Quebec case
Violence definition
Physical contact by one athlete against another causing physical harm
-intent to hurt another player
4 Main types violence
- On-field/ice
- Spectator violence
- fans assaulting, rioting
- Sexual violence
- Hazing rituals
What are the 3 levels of on field violence?
- Routine body contact
- Immoderate violence
- Ultra Violence
- What is routine body contact?
- Seen in sports like: Rugby and Football
- This type of violence is expected in the game and players agree to this when stepping onto the field
- What is immoderate violence?
- Seen in sports like: Basketball
- Not within the playing culture typically results into a penalty
- Players accept consequences
- What is ultra violence?
- Can lead to serious injury based on emotions, retaliation, positive deviance
- When a player goes beyond the rules
- Players don’t expect death
- Criminally charged
*Deviance: going against the norm
What are the 3 levels of the violence and criminal law?
Level 1: common assault
Level 2: assault with a weapon/ or causing bodily harm
Level 3: aggravated assault
Level 1: (common) assault
- deliberate physical contact with intent to injure that is not consensual
- civil assault
- most common
Level 2: assault with a weapon/ or causing bodily harm
…what do u think (broken bones)
Level 3: aggravated assault
cause serious injury
What is manslaughter and how many degrees of it? What do the degrees mean?
- unlawful killing that is not murder
- in Canada, you can get a life sentence
- a form of a homicide: 0-life sentence in prison
1st degree: Intent of killing and delivered
2nd degree: Intent to kill but not planned
START OF ON FIELD VIOLENCE COURT CASES
R. v. Maki & R. v. Green (1970)
Name: R. v Maki & R. v. Green
Year: 1970
What happened: (on ice violence- routine body contact)
- hockey fight using their sticks
- dropped gloves (weren’t wearing helmets)
what happened in the court:
- both arrested for assaulting each other
- both consented to the fight
Sentence:
-none
Outcome:
-judge said it was not criminally charged
R. v. McSorley (2002)
Name: R. v. McSorely
Year: 2002
What happened:
- Hit a guy with his stick
- Other guy didn’t want to fight
what happened in the court:
-there was no consent
Sentence:
-1 day in prison
Outcome:
- Never played NHL again
- got conditional discharge: had to meet certain conditions to keep the peace for 18 months
- after 18 months of peace, his record was dropped
R. v. Jobiodn (1900)
Name: R. v. Jobdion
Year: 1900
What happened:
- gets into a bar fight
- seriously injures man
what happened in the court:
-tries to build a case that it was consensual but no one can consent to get injured
Sentence:
-charged with assault
Outcome:
-Judge said it wasn’t good for the public to see that
(didn’t have an outcome or sentence time)
R. v. Bertuzzi (2004)
Name: R. v. Bertuzzi
Year: 2004
What happened:
- Bertuzzi wanted to fight
- Moore was not interested
- Bertuzzi punched Moore in the back of the head which broke his vertebrate and now lives with disabilities for life and never returned to the NHL
what happened in the court:
- Bertuzzi was charged with assault and was sued by Moore
- Bertuzzi pled guilty
Sentence:
-no sentence
Outcome:
-had conditional discharge (80 hours of community service) to get his record dropped
R. v. C. C. (2009)
Name: R. v. C. C.
Year: 2009
What happened:
- High School in Mississauga: Rugby game
- picked a player up and thrown him on the ground
- broke the player’s neck
- player died 2 days later
what happened in the court:
- convicted to 2nd-degree manslaughter (if there wasn’t a death it would have just been assault)
- victim statement was written
Sentence:
-since it was apart of the game it was not intentionally so he did not get jail time
Outcome:
-sentenced 100 hours of community service hours and anger management classes
**Victim statement: a form submitted to the court from the family… to what they think the punishment should be
How old do you have to be to have your name announced to the public?
18
Why are criminal cases of sports violence uncommon?
- hard to prove
- consent
- athletes understand rules
- hard to see contact (football in doggy piles)
- public doesn’t want it they love the fighting
Sports violence and civil liability
- more common
- players suing because they got hurt
What 2 things can you sue someone in for injuring you in a sport?
- Money
- Medical costs
EX: a knee to fix will cost 60k in medical costs
- so when you sue you can sue for this money
- you will need for a nurse, wheelchair access in the house
- can also sue for future earnings
Who is Liable in player-perpetrated sports violence cases?
- who committed the act
- the organization of the player
- positive deviance
- duty of care
Who is liable if a 16-year-old committed the offense? who would you sue
- league
- coaches
- trainers/doctors
- equipment manager
- refree
Agar v. Canning (1965)
Name: Agar v. Canning
Year: 1965
What happened: civil case
- Amateur hockey came
- Canning had a breakaway
- Agar hooked him
- Canning stopped and slashed Agar in the head with stick
what happened in the court:
- Agar sues Canning
- Canning says it was consent and Agar started it but it wasn’t
Sentence:
-no sentance
Outcome:
-Agar sues for $4000 in damages
