Restorative justice in sports: does restorative justice have a place in anti-doping governance?

Abstract

Current policies and practices of anti-doping regulators present athletes as an inherent risk population in need of increased surveillance, testing, and punishment. The myriad rules and regulations supporting these policies engender a range of harms not only to athletes but the wider sport community. Unsurprisingly, this environment has strained relations between athletes and anti-doping regulators and engendered suspicion and varying levels of shame and trauma, while being weighted in favour of regulators. Considering the current climate, we explore whether restorative justice principles and practices may offer a useful approach to address the limitations that exist within the anti-doping environment. When applied properly, use of talking circles as described by Pranis, can be a powerful tool to foster and strengthen a more balanced and equitable relationship among not only athletes and regulators, but all members of the sport ecosystem.

Keywords:

• Anti-doping
• restorative justice
• sport

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.