Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2008-02-11 Parkour/draft001

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This is a draft workspace. (Categories and interwiki links have been removed for sandbox purposes.)

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Contents 1 Legality section 1 2 Legality section 2 3 Legality section 3 4 References

[edit] Legality section 1

Parkour is sometimes criticized for the perceived illegality of actions taken by some traceurs. In 2008 the high profile arrest of four youths in Gloucestershire was briefly covered by the BBC. Gloucestershire police investigated alleged damage to a roof caused by the teenagers.^[1][2] A spokesman asked traceurs to use common sense and continued that “Those who don't take this request in the spirit it's intended should be aware that we will vigorously enforce the law if they trespass on private property or cause damage.”^[3]

In 2008 Sutton Police announced that they received several calls a week concerning youths climbing on rooftops. However Your Local Guardian also stated that “The difficulty with dealing with the problem is that to be on the roof is not a criminal offence but causing damage to buildings is.”^[4]

Parkour is of particular concern to some university officials who fear a lawsuit should a student become seriously injured through parkour. A Time Magazine article in April 2007 described insurance claims brought before United Educators Insurance for a variety of injuries suffered during parkour activities on college campuses.^[5]

Traceurs have responded to these accusations of vandalism by stating that traceurs are careful not to damage property.^[6] In response to accusations of trespassing traceurs also point out that by definition Parkour can be used anywhere.^[7]

[edit] Legality section 2

Parkour practitioners have been criticised in the past for trespassing on private property and the possibility of practitioners causing criminal damage (ref 3), however there is agreement from both officials(ref 4) and the parkour community (refs 6,7) that this sort of behaviour is not to be encouraged.

There is also the concern that practitioners are needlessly endangering themselves as well as property by practicing at height, with both police forces and parkour figures calling for practitioners to stay off the rooftops (ref 4).

However, these issues do not appear to apply to the majority of practitioners whose relationship with authorities is generally a positive one (ref 5).

[edit] Legality section 3

[edit] References