Book Review: Fair or Foul: Sports and Criminal Behavior in the United States

• Published date: 01 June 2012
• Date: 01 June 2012
• Author: Bruce A. Carroll
• DOI: 10.1177/0734016811420710
• Subject Matter: Book Reviews

Waldron is bent on getting rid of the old saw that ‘‘one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom

fighter.’’ He suggests a means/end test, whereby pursuing violent means is wrong regardless of the

ends and pursing ends with nonviolent means is right. He also refuses to enter the debate about

whether violence is aimed at civilians or noncivilians because civilians are usually the most harmed

by terrorists, who have no respect for the normal rules and constraints of law.

He urges lawyers working in the administration’s Office of Legal Counsel to advise the President

to follow the Rule of Law and the agreements on torture outlined in the Geneva Convention when

they advise the President. In the Bush Administration, many of these lawyers treated the Rule of

Law as an inconvenience that could be ignored, Waldron holds. Instead, he argues, lawyers for the

President should defend all international laws that the United States has signed and ratified.

The relevance of the legal and philosophical issues surrounding torture are just as important today

as they were after the September 11 attack on the United States. As the startling uprisings in North

Africa and the Middle East have clearly shown, repressive rulers tend to do whatever is necessary to

hang onto their power. Although there are no reliable records about the use of torture by the police in

the early days of Egypt’s or Tunisia’s revolts, it can be assumed that before the leaders of those two

countries relinquished their powers, techniques not approved by international law were employed.

And there is no doubt that all sorts of violence, including torture, have occurred with frequency in

countries such as Syria, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and Algeria, where, as of this writing, the dictators

are zealously holding on to their privileges.

Professor Waldron has contributed greatly to the literature on torture with this intricate and

thoughtful anthology.

C. S. Kudlac

Fair or Foul: Sports and Criminal Behavior in the United States Oxford, England: Praeger, 2010. xvii, 170pp. $44.95.

ISBN 978-0313378256

Reviewed by: Bruce A. Carroll, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX, USA

DOI: 10.1177/0734016811420710

In Fair or Foul: Sports and Criminal Behavior in the United States, Kudlac provides an easily

accessible one-stop resource for academics, sports management, and athletes interested in crime and

athletics. His methodology is to delineate the most common types of crime and then subdivide those

crimes in a tiered fashion beginning with high school and concluding with the professional level. He

then spends three chapters specifically examining crimes in sports arenas, gambling, and the ways

involvement in athletics may impact crime levels.

The initial chapter focuses on high school athletes. Kudlac examines athletes using social control

theory to show the benefits that are involved with being an athlete. These benefits include under-

standing structure, showing commitment, and being involved. Frequently, the athlete can also see

the benefit of working hard when looking at older players. However, for males, this can also build

and reinforce the jock stereotype of male dominance over females and provide positive feedback for

aggressive behavior. This reinforcement of negative behavior can then lead to criminal behavior and

a lack of expecting proper sanctions. Chapter 2 moves on to the relationship between college athletes

and crime. Though the main part of the theory for high school athletes applies to college athletes as

well, the dynamics change in another way. If it can be said that high school athletes are well known,

it can be said that many college athletes are basically famous on campus. While there may be 50

students on a high school football team from a student population of 1,500, the dynamic changes

dramatically when there are 80 football players on a campus of thousands. This is especially true

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