Criminology, Leisure and Sport

This book takes a critical look at how leisure and sport intersect with crime and harm. Bringing together leading scholars in criminology, sociology, sport science, social work and psychology, it shows how recreational and elite sporting spaces can foster prosocial development but also generate significant social inequalities and injustices. Through diverse empirical cases - including sexual abuse in sport, environmental harms at mega-events, performance enhancing drugs, athlete criminality, organised crime, deviant fandom, policing, rehabilitation and desistance - the book provides readers with an analytically rich framework for understanding sport and leisure as dynamic areas where power, inequality, harm and social transformation converge. The book's interdisciplinary approach equips researchers, practitioners and students with unique insights into the issues and transformative potential of these domains. Timely, authoritative and globally relevant, this book is essential reading for scholars and students in criminology, sociology of sport, leisure studies, sports science and social policy, as well as practitioners working in youth justice, community sport, safeguarding, and sport-based interventions more broadly.

Mark Berry is Lecturer in Criminology in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work at Bournemouth University, UK. He is an advocate of ethnographic research in ethically challenging settings with hard-to-reach groups, and he has international experience delivering participatory action research interventions with youth at-risk of serious and organised crime. He has worked in the Youth Offending Team and is a trustee for Wrestle for Humanity, a sports-based charity that supports refugees, people with disabilities and marginalised youth. Carl Berry is Lecturer in Criminology in the School of Social Sciences at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK. Carl's research interests are electronic monitoring, probation and community penalties, surveillance and criminal offending. He has worked with offenders in the community through the probation service beside at-risk young people with the Avon and Somerset Police Constabulary. Carl is a trustee for Wrestle for Humanity and provides mentorship and coaching for marginalised members of the community. Jayne Caudwell is Associate Professor in Social Sciences, Gender and Sexualities in the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work at Bournemouth University, UK, and is Deputy Head of the Department of Social Sciences and Social Work. Her teaching and research interests are concerned with social justice and equality, critical socio-cultural analysis of leisure and sport cultures, feminist theory and activism, LGBTQ+ inclusion and theories of sexualities, and qualitative research methodologies.

1. Introduction: Developing a Criminology of Leisure and Sport Part One: Abuse and Harm 2. Situating Sexual Abuse in Sporting Communities and Cultures 3. Relegating Football Dreams: Social Harm in the Elite Boys' Football Youth Academy System 4. The Winter Olympic Villages: Between Activism and Environmental Crimes Part Two: Optimisation and Enhancement 5. Unprescribed Use of Anabolic Androgenic Steroids in Men: Criminals or Sporting and Muscle Enthusiasts? 6. Rethinking Weight Cutting in Combat Athletics: From Suffering to Success 7. The Dark Side of Mental Toughness: The Facade of Invulnerability Part Three: Sport Participants and Criminality 8. Mixed Martial Arts, Organised Crime and The Night-Time Economy: MMA Fighters Who Work as Bouncers and Become Drug Traffickers 9. Exploring Athlete Criminality Part Four: Policing and Governance 10. Who Pays for the Policing of Sport? International Comparisons and the Problems with 'User Pays' Policing 11. Football 'Ultras', Commodification and Criminalisation: Deviant Leisure and Celtic FC's Green Brigade 12. Beyond the 'Paradox' of Exclusion and Inclusion of Skateboarding in Japanese Urban Space: An Attempt to Grasp Skateboarding as a Pro-Social Activity Part Five: Intervention, Desistance and Rehabilitation 13. Conducting Ethical and Empowering Research with Incarcerated Youth in Sport-Based Settings 14. Considering the Value of Combat-Sport Participation in Supporting Desistance for Electronic Monitoring Users: A Synergist for Reform or Criminogenic Catalyst? 15. Wrestle for Humanity: An Open Dialogue about Transforming Lives Through the Sport of Wrestling