Clark Jones '01 clearly loves hockey. But he also worries about it: “Professional hockey is a fast-paced, emotional, and aggressive game. However, the way the game has been going in recent years concerns me greatly.”
Last fall, for example, NHL player Marty McSorley was convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, and received a conditional discharge. But the real story, says Jones, “was the fact that he was put on trial.” McSorley was the twelfth NHL player to land in court for an on-ice incident.
A political science major as well as co-captain of Union's hockey team, Jones was the perfect person to do a senior thesis on violence in sports. Combining interests in law and sports, he focused on a legal gray area: When does a hockey stick become an assault weapon?
Jones sent out 1,000 three-page questionnaires to a national random sample of trial court judges, seeking their views on sports violence, how they assess the criminal status of sports violence, responses to a hypothetical incident, and whether they think sports violence cases should be handled in court. Says Jones's adviser Richard Fox, “We were nervous – it was a gamble. We made the questions closed ended because judges are so busy, but what if only twenty-three answered?”
Returning from winter break, however, they found a huge box waiting for them, containing 400 replies. “And quite a number of the judges took the time to write down additional thoughts,” Fox says. “Clark's cover letter must have touched a chord.”
Going through the stack, Jones found:
– Judges generally view sports violence as a serious problem.
– Judges acknowledge that sports violence is different from other violence cases.
– More than seventy-five percent of the judges said that excessive sports violence cases should be considered criminal conduct.
– About sixty percent of the judges said that it is difficult to differentiate between tolerable and excessive acts of sports violence.
– Women judges tend to view sports violence as more serious than do male judges.
– The degree to which a judge is a sports fan does not influence his or her opinion on the general issue of sports violence.
Jones and Fox are including these findings in an article they hope to publish in a judicial or legal journal. “I think the response rate alone makes it publishable,” says Fox. Jones is also working on an opinion piece for newspapers.
Does Jones think far greater acts of violence in hockey go unpunished while drawing applause? Jones replies carefully: “It's been argued that a lot of the attraction of professional hockey is the violent nature of the game. What's 'excessive' is not clear though.
“I think the NHL needs to do a better preventive job,” he continues. “If anything, they need to stop the excessive acts as much as they can so courts don't get involved. Changing the mindset of the players is the challenge. My main concern is with the excessive violence that has been occurring, not necessarily because there has been an increase in the sheer number of incidents but because the visibility is more widespread.”
There are two distinct consequences of this visibility, he says. First, children tend to emulate the actions of professional athletes, and second, the exposure may mean that more athletes are prosecuted for on-ice incidents.
“No athlete can play with freedom and passion when there is a threat of litigation,” he says. “At the same time, athletes are responsible for their actions because with their right to play hockey comes a responsibility to play within the rules, customs, and norms of the game.”
Jones, who graduated in June, will be working as a paralegal with a Boston law firm.
What two judges say about violence and sports:
“Some sports are inherently violent, i.e., hockey and football. However, none should condone intentional violent assaults that are outside the rules. It never ceases to amaze me how we excuse one's actions in proportion to their wealth or station in life.”
“If there was an immediate and certain penalty, it would go far to keep such disputes out of court. If not, the courts must be involved because this spreads to children and parents when they see professional athletes do it and nothing happens.”