A European Commission white paper on sport suggests that young people's participation in sport ‘may have a beneficial effect in helping people steer away from delinquency’ (Commission of the European Communities, 2007, p 6). Youth work as a profession has traditionally used a wide range of physical activities to engage and build relationships with young people, and encourage their personal and social development. Where those young people are engaged in criminal or violent activity, sporting activities continue to be promoted as part of professional practice as a means to not only engage young people, as a ‘hook for change’, but also to bring about some kind of ‘cognitive transformation’ (Giordano et al, 2002) away from crime and violence.

A review of the academic literature surrounding sport, violence and desistance suggests that although it is clear and demonstrable that participation in sport may have beneficial effects for health, there is considerable debate as to whether sport operates as an antidote to, or reinforcer of, violence. Some (mainly quantitative) studies indicate that involvement in sports is associated with reduced violent behaviour (Landers and Landers, 1978; Segrave and Chu, 1978; Stark et al, 1987; Begg et al, 1996; Eder et al, 1997; Paetsch and Bertrand, 1997; Curry, 1998; Pfeiffer and Wetzels, 1999; Mahoney, 2000; Brettschneider and Kleine, 2002; Langbein and Bess, 2002; Miller et al, 2006). Some others (Kreager, 2007) distinguish between the desistance-promoting potential of ‘contact’ sports, such as football, and ‘non-contact’ sports such as tennis, while others maintain there is no relationship at all (Best, C., 1985; Lemieux et al, 2002; Brettschneider et al, 2005). Some studies attempt to dig deeper into the specific qualities that organised sports programmes pursuing social objectives should feature if they are to have any effect on desistance (Eccles and Gootman, 2002; Nichols, 2007). In a wide-ranging meta-analysis of such studies, Mutz and Baur (2009) conclude that the desistance-promoting potential of sport is entirely contingent on the context in which it is mediated.