The Rules of Flat Track Roller Derby

6.1 - Penalties

6.1.1 - When a skater has earned a penalty, that skater will be sent to the Penalty Box. The skater’s team must play short, without the skater and the position the skater was playing, until the penalty has expired (see Section 6.2.3).

6.1.1.1 - A penalty is considered to be assessed, and a skater is considered to have been sent to the Penalty Box, once the referee has completed the appropriate hand signals and verbal cues.

6.1.2 - Penalties expire after 30 seconds served in the Penalty Box. Each penalty is timed separately and individually.

6.1.3 - If an Illegal Procedure gives an unfair advantage, the referee will assess a penalty and may stop the jam if the offending team fails to yield the advantage immediately.

6.1.4 - If a penalty is committed by a non-skater (e.g., by a team’s bench staff), the penalty will be assessed to the Captain, unless otherwise specified. If such an action is committed during a jam in which the Captain is not skating, the Captain will serve the penalty beginning in the following jam.

6.1.5 - If a single penalty is committed by a group of teammates, or if no one single skater can be identified as most responsible (including penalties committed during a jam), the penalty will be assessed to the team’s Pivot unless otherwise specified. If there is not a Pivot, it will go to the Captain.