Why Public Health Policy Should Redefine Consent to Assault and the Intentional Foul in Gladiator Sports.

Abstract

This article considers in Part II the status and influence of public health research regarding the safety risks of gladiator sports and the field's tendency to neglect the sports' recognized medical and mental health benefits. In Part III, the historical trends in judicial interpretation of the scope of the criminal consent defense and civil doctrines of a privilege of consent to assault and assumption of the risk in the sports context are addressed. Finally, Part IV asserts the need to reform the civil and criminal defenses to intentional misconduct in sports through agency, judicial, and statutory reform, for the purpose of eliminating the strategic use of the intentional foul to better enforce the new medically informed safety regulations and sports rules while protecting the tradition of a wide array of gladiator sports.