Student Athletes and Stealing: Examining the Consequences and Ethical Considerations

Ethical issues in sports are a major factor in determining the success or failure of an athletic program. For athletic directors and other members of sports leadership, it's essential to understand the ethics involved with sports and know how to react when an issue arises. The sports industry is a major player in the American economy. With this enormous flow of revenue comes high stakes for everyone involved with sports, from players to coaches, trainers, athletic directors and team owners. Those high stakes can lead to increased temptation to make questionable decisions and take unethical actions in order to secure a win.

When student-athletes commit crimes, such as stealing, it raises complex questions about accountability, fairness, and the role of universities in addressing such misconduct. This article delves into the consequences faced by student-athletes who engage in theft, exploring the ethical dimensions and broader implications for college sports programs.

The Prevalence of Ethical Issues in Sports

Why are ethics important in the sports world? Athletic events aren't just a major moneymaker - they're also a main source of entertainment for people around the world. Sports bring people together, whether they're facing off on the field, cheering from the stands or watching from home. At the heart of a love for sports is the belief in one central ethical principle: Every team or individual should play by the same rules.

While ethical issues in sports can be diverse and vary between sports programs and leagues, some challenges are common across the spectrum. These include performance enhancing drugs, discrimination based race, gender, religion, ethnicity and other factors, corruption and bribery, harassment.

Some ethical issues are more common in college athletics than in other levels of the sports industry. The high-pressure environment of college sports can lead players, coaches and others to make poor ethical decisions when it comes to academic integrity, retaliation or silencing victims and sports gambling.

Adolescent athletes require thoughtful guidance and support when they participate in sports. Ethical adults who model positive attitudes toward competition and fair play are essential to these developing athletes. Sports have great potential to teach important life lessons, but these ethical issues can get in the way parental interference, gender inequality, bullying and hazing.

While ethical issues in the sports world often center on athletes, it's just as important to scrutinize hiring practices for coaches, sports managers, athletic directors and other positions. Unethical hiring practices can result in legal ramifications as well as damage to a team's reputation. Legal and ethical issues involved with hiring for sports positions can include discrimination and referral practices.

Conscientious coaches, athletic directors and other administrators can promote ethically driven sports programs by being prepared to handle ethical issues when they occur. Instead of shying away from the challenges, it's essential for those involved in sports leadership to set the example by facing ethical issues head-on.

Legal Ramifications of Stealing

When a student-athlete commits theft, they are subject to the same legal consequences as any other individual. Rules of law set the standard of conduct for people to follow. When a person disobeys a law, he is susceptible to two possible consequences. One consequence is punishment by the government for his crime, and the other is the possibility of a civil lawsuit for damages sustained by the victim of the crime. A crime is an offense against the government. It is a breach of a duty to the public. It is conduct that is prohibited and punished by a government. Each state has its own set of statutory criminal laws. However, these statutes are very similar. Crimes may be classified in terms of their seriousness as felonies and misdemeanors. Felonies include serious crimes such as arson, murder and robbery, for example. Crimes not classified as treason or felonies are misdemeanors and include such things as reckless driving and disturbing the peace. Felonies are generally regarded as more serious in nature. Felonies require a penalty of more than one year in state or federal prison. Misdemeanors, though still serious, do not allow for incarceration for more than one year in county jail. State and federal laws both fall into misdemeanor and felony categories.

Types of Crimes

Crimes against the person include assault, battery, robbery, hazing, murder, rape, and kidnapping. Crimes against property rights include arson, trespass, vandalism, and theft. Crimes against the government include tax evasion, treason, RICO violations, and terrorism.

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General Criminal Law Principles

Prosecutors who believe that illegal behavior has occurred during a sports contest must prove their criminal case beyond a reasonable doubt. This is more difficult than the preponderance of evidence test in tort law. It is more difficult to prove that a defendant is guilty of a crime than liable in tort. If the defendant is found guilty of a crime, the judge must then render a sentence. Most criminal laws dictate a minimum and maximum sentence, and the judge must consider mitigating factors that might reduce a sentence.

Defenses to Criminal Charges

The defenses to crimes of consent to contact, self-defense, and a general reluctance by the federal and state government to prosecute alleged crimes have limited the exposure of criminal law in the sports context. To get a criminal conviction, the prosecutor generally has to prove that the defendant had the intent to commit an unlawful act.

University Disciplinary Actions

Beyond the legal system, student-athletes are also subject to university codes of conduct. These codes often have stricter standards than the law and can result in penalties such as suspension or expulsion from the university.

According to UCLA’s code of student conduct, “Bruins hold themselves accountable to the commitments they make and for their conduct.”

Code of Conduct Violations

All student participants/athletes must abide by Red Jacket’s Code of Conduct. Conduct rules for non-team or non-club issues address violations of school rules, as well as violations of good citizenship. If school rules are broken, a participant will face school penalties (detentions, in school or out of school suspensions, etc.) associated with the infraction as well as any consequences outlined herein. In serving penalties, special consideration will not be given to an athlete/participant beyond those given to all students. If a student is serving a half or full day of in school (ISS) or out of school (OSS) suspension on a particular day or days, he/she is also excluded from practices/contests/events for that day(s). Coaches or Advisors may have their own additional expectations for their respective team/club. Coaches/Advisors, in consultation with the Athletic Director/Building Principal, will determine an appropriate disciplinary action for failure to abide by the team’s/club’s expectations not addressed in this handbook. The consequence will be based on the nature of the misconduct, the level of severity, and the number of times it occurs.

Read also: Investigating the Death at Purdue

NCAA Regulations

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) also has rules regarding student-athlete conduct. Violations can lead to suspension from competition or even ineligibility to participate in college sports.

Penalties for Violations

Penalties are determined by the Committee on Infractions on a case-by-case basis and vary depending on the severity of the violations and the specifics of the case. NCAA sanctions must be legitimately punitive to be effective. The intent of penalties is to ensure they are sufficient to deter schools from breaking the rules again and that they remove any competitive advantage that may have been gained. For this reason, penalties can be retrospective (such as a vacation of records) or prospective (such as scholarship losses or recruiting restrictions). Usually, based on the specifics of the case, it is a combination of both. Penalties can be applied across the entire athletics department, to a specific sport and/or individuals involved in the case. The penalty structure was established based upon the NCAA as an association of member institutions rather than individuals. Unfortunately, some sanctions, such as a ban on postseason competition, while serving as a deterrent for institutions, also negatively affect innocent student-athletes.

The committee decides penalties case-by-case. Each case is unique, and applying case precedent is difficult (if not impossible) because all cases are different. The committee occasionally tailors penalties to the offenses that were committed. For example, if the violation involved excessive recruiting, the committee will assign penalties aimed at reducing future recruiting opportunities (prohibiting coaches from off-campus recruiting, reducing official visits for a period of time, etc.). Some penalties, such as public reprimand and censure, are commonplace. The committee attempts to protect student-athletes who were not involved in the violation. In some cases, the committee determines that insufficient evidence exists to support the finding of a major violation. When that happens, a case is essentially “thrown out.” In such cases, the committee sometimes has decided that a school committed a secondary violation, not a major one. In that event, the case is sent to the secondary-violations wing of the enforcement staff for processing. Penalties for secondary violations usually are not as severe as those for major infractions, but they may be more than a “slap on the wrist.” Secondary-violation penalties are tailored to specific situations, such as recruiting restrictions being imposed in response to most recruiting violations.

Why Punish the Institution?

Ethical Considerations

The issue of student-athlete stealing raises several ethical questions:

Fairness: Should student-athletes be held to a higher standard of conduct than other students?
Privilege: Do star athletes receive preferential treatment when they break the law or violate university rules?
Responsibility: What role should universities play in ensuring their athletes behave ethically and legally?
Public Image: How does the misconduct of student-athletes affect the reputation of the university and its athletic programs?

Case Studies

Several high-profile cases illustrate the complexities of dealing with student-athletes who steal:

UCLA Basketball Players in China: In 2017, three freshmen on UCLA’s basketball team, LiAngelo Ball, Jalen Hill and Cody Riley, admitted to shoplifting designer sunglasses from three stores in Hangzhou, China. For their actions, the young men faced three to ten years in prison in a country with a conviction rate of over 99 percent, according to Shanghai news. diplomatic efforts aided by President Trump secured their release and return to Los Angeles. No further criminal charges have been pressed, though it appears the men’s passports have been revoked. UCLA men’s basketball head coach Steve Alford, along with the school’s athletic director Dan Guerrero, have punished the men with an indefinite suspension. No specified length of suspension has been disclosed.

The "Jock Identity" and Delinquency

Research suggests a complex relationship between athletic involvement and delinquent behavior. While conventional wisdom holds that sports deter delinquency, some studies indicate a potential link between a strong "jock identity" and increased incidents of delinquency.

Jock Identity and Delinquency

Based on a sample of approximately 600 Western New York adolescents, the present study examined how self-reported jock identity, school athlete status, and frequency of athletic activity differentially influenced a range of delinquent behaviors. Neither athlete status nor frequency of athletic activity predicted these behaviors; however, jock identity was associated with significantly more incidents of delinquency. This finding was robust across both gender and race.

Several schools of thought have evolved over time to explain the complex relationship between adolescent sports participation and delinquency. Popular wisdom, and indeed public policy, tends to be guided by the assumption that athletic participation deters antisocial behavior, as indicated by the emergent popularity of midnight basketball programs in the 1990s as a crime reduction strategy. Much of the rationale for these programs is rooted in the premises of social bonds theory (Hirschi, 1969), which posits that strong bonds to society (attachment to nondelinquent significant others, commitment to conventional institutions, involvement in pro-social activities, and belief in a conventional value system) discourage delinquent behavior. Organized sports presumably strengthen social bonds by building “character” in general (Rees et al., 1990; Sage, 1998), encouraging engagement in prosocial networks of peers and adults, and reducing unstructured, unsupervised leisure time conducive of opportunistic delinquency.

Contrary to the idea that sport builds character and facilitates prosocial personality development, some researchers have found positive links between adolescent athletic participation and delinquent behavior, leading to the supposition that sport may actually facilitate deviance.

Addressing Ethical Dilemmas

Take every complaint or report seriously. Never attempt to silence whistleblowers who are reporting on unethical actions taking place in your program.
Learn everything you can about the ethical issue. Talk with everyone involved to ensure you know all of the facts before proceeding.
Refer to local, state and federal regulations regarding the issue. If there are laws pertaining to the ethics issue at hand, consult your organization's attorney about the proper next steps.
Discuss the issue with other stakeholders. Notify any other professionals necessary, including the athletic director and other members of your organization's leadership team.
Develop a plan to remedy the issue. With other stakeholders and, if needed, a legal representative, determining what steps should be taken to address the ethical issue at hand.
Implement your plan, including any necessary disciplinary actions. This step may involve implementing an improvement plan or even dismissing the athletes or personnel who took unethical action.
Follow-up with everyone involved. Ensure that all stakeholders, including the person who reported the incident, is aware that action has been taken. This is also the time to reflect on the process you followed and make any necessary improvements on your process for the next time your program faces ethical issues.

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