Dr. Sc.Phil. R.G. Ardashev
Siberian Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, Krasnoyarsk

Keywords: sports, crimes, public opinion.

Introduction. Public opinion about crimes in sports is often based on the processes that are reflected in the media and the Internet and construct the field of ideas of ordinary people. It does not have objectivity, but creates conditions for assessing the characteristics and personal characteristics of athletes, coaches, and fans [1]. Thanks to him, moral and ethical assessments of those involved in the sports community are formed [2]. And this forms the general socio-psychological mood of the perception of sports and all its participants in a specific socio-historical period of time.
The purpose of the study is to identify public assessments of crimes in sports.
Methodology and organization of the study. The study conducted in 2023 involved 950 people; 55% of women and 45% of men aged 18 to 65 years living in different regions of the Russian Federation. Of the respondents, 44% have ever engaged in amateur sports themselves and 21% in professional sports, 35% have not engaged in any sports. The survey was conducted through an online survey platform www.google.com . The research method was a questionnaire survey. The data was processed using the SPSS package.
The results of the study and their discussion. The analysis of the data revealed that, according to Russians, crimes in sports are quite common – 67%, crimes in sports are few – 25% believe and 8% – found it difficult to answer. Moreover, there are twice as many men who believe that crimes are present in sports activities than among women.
Former professional athletes have faced crimes themselves – 35%, know those who have – 52% and 13% – have only heard about it. Amateur athletes have faced crimes in sports - 42%, know those who have faced – 45% and 13% have heard about it. Non–athletes faced crimes in sports in 15%, know those who faced – 52%, only heard about it - 33%. In other words, there is a fairly high level of awareness about this problem.
At the same time, they most often learn about crimes in sports from their friends or from those about whom they have heard from someone from the media, the Internet (more often social networks). And, if there is a close personal acquaintance, they can call and clarify, and if there is not, then they rely only on the facts stated in the mass media. This source of information is dominant for all the groups of respondents under consideration (former athletes – 48%, amateurs – 58%, philistines – 63%).
The respondents claim that in 50% of cases, after the publication of some information about the crime, it is later refuted or everything turns out to be not quite as it really was. But the negative impact on the reputation of an athlete, coach, sports federation has already been exerted. The so-called reputational costs interfere in the future because of real or far-fetched scandals related to crimes in sports.
Respondents also identified types of crimes in sports: bribery – 42%, doping – 38%, murder – 15%, other – 5%. There are no differences in the responses of representatives of different study groups.
Conclusion. Public opinion about crimes in sports is quite subjective, based on unverified facts from dubious sources. Public opinion affects the reputation of the sports community or its members under the influence of not always reliable information about crimes and changes the social expectations of Russians in this area. At the same time, in the public opinion of Russians, the most common crimes in sports are bribery, doping and murder.

Literature

1. Ardashev R.G. The problem of bribery at sports competitions in the aspect of sociological analysis / R.G. Ardashev, V.N. Turkova // Teoriya i praktika fizicheskoy kultury. – 2023. – No. 2. – p. 106.
2. Polyushkevich O.A. Modern reading of the sociology of morality / O.A. Polyushkevich // Humanitarian Vector. – 2021. – Vol. 16. – No. 5. – pp. 50-58.