It is estimated that nearly twenty-five percent of all women
will be victims of domestic violence during their life. Domestic Violence is defined as “the
willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other
abusive behavior perpetrated by an intimate partner against another.”[1]
While domestic violence impacts
all types of couples, relationships involving professional athletes appear to
have increased rates of domestic violence. According to the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes,
in the late 1990’s, 8.5% of the general population was charged with assault,
while the number was nearly 36.8% for athletes.[2]
We hear of these cases all the
time in the news. In late 2012,
Jovan Belcher, an NFL player for the Kansas City Chiefs, committed suicide
after he shot and killed Kasandra Perkins, his girlfriend and mother of his
infant daughter.[3] Brandon Marshall, a wide receiver for
the Denver Broncos has been involved in several domestic violence incidents––police
have been called to his home on at least eight separate occasions for domestic
violence.[4]
Marshall has also been charged
with assaulting a woman at a nightclub in New York. Manny Ramirez, once one of the Major League Baseball’s stars,
was arrested for battery after hitting his wife.[5] These are just a few examples of
hundreds.
There are calls for the professional leagues to do more
regarding professional and college athlete domestic violence. Because these would be civil remedies since
the leagues cannot create criminal punishments or sanctions, I won’t go into
them in detail. However, the main
arguments are that players who are convicted, or even just arrested for
domestic violence, should face punishment from employers such as suspensions or
docked pay. There are problems
with this theory however. In most
cases, members of the general population are not punished for acts that occur
when they are not working. What
makes professional athletes different? Some would argue that playing sports is not the type of
employment that should require adherence to a moral
code. The most effective way to
curb domestic violence rates among professional athletes is by actively
prosecuting the cases and requiring a batterer intervention program as part of
sentencing.
Domestic Violence is a crime in every state. However, the National Coalition Against
Violent Athletes asserts that while members of the general population accused
of domestic violence are convicted eighty percent of the time, the number is
only thirty-eight percent for athletes. States vary in the methods of prosecuting the crime. Alaska for example, has a law that
requires police to arrest a suspect if there is probable cause that domestic
violence has occurred. This
mandatory arrest law has its critics who claim it is a constitutional violation.
Among other arguments, critics say
that suspects are being punished before they are convicted of a crime, which
violates the suspect’s rights.[7]
Today, seven states have mandatory
arrest laws for domestic violence.[8]
Other criminal justice efforts are
“no drop” policies in prosecution offices, which require prosecutors to pursue
domestic violence cases even if the victim no longer wishes to. One of the purposes of these laws is to
remove some of the discretionary power of prosecutors to drop domestic violence
cases. This would be particularly
useful for prosecution against athletes, who prosecutors may be more willing to
drop charges against. If they are
required to pursue the charges, then the suspect gets charged regardless of
their popularity or status.
What are not needed are harsher laws, but rather that the
laws in place are actually enforced.
One of the main functions of the criminal system is deterrence. If athletes knew that they would be
prosecuted and punished each time they committed and act of violence, the rates
would more than likely decrease. If
they were convicted and sentenced to jail and/or prison time, like other
members of the public, the rates would probably decrease. If this happened, it would also remove
some of the cry for league punishment. Because if a player is in jail or prison, he cannot play in
games and would not be paid or be a part of the team for however long he was
incarcerated. By holding athletes
responsible for the domestic violence acts they perpetrate, the criminal system
can decrease the occurrence.
Another effective method of decreasing domestic violence
among athletes is by requiring batterer intervention programs (BIP) as part of
the sentence. A BIP is usually a
court-mandated program (but in some cases can be voluntary) that is meant to
address an offender’s attitudes towards violence and their victim with the hope
of decreasing re-arrest and re-conviction rates.[9]
One reason that these programs
might be particularly useful for athletes is that many believe athletes are
predisposed to commit violence against their partners because of ways they have
been trained to think.[10]
As part of being an athlete, they
are taught that they need to appear aggressive and intimidating to their
opponents. It is hard to shut this
off when the individual has to engage in other relationships, so they continue
to act aggressively. If this is
true, then it is necessary that the criminal justice system not only punishes
them if they commit violent crimes, but also provides therapy in order to
prevent re-occurrence.
While
there may be some disagreement as to whether athletes actually commit more
domestic violence than their counterparts in the general population, there
should be no disagreement that they should be prosecuted at the same rate as
other members of the population. Considering
the role and the notoriety that professional athletes have in American society
and abroad, they should be held to the same standards as the rest of us. The criminal justice system should not
give them a free pass or pretend like this problem does not exist.
Bethany J. Peak
Blogger, Criminal Law Brief
[1] Domestic Violence Facts, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence,
available at http://www.ncadv.org/files/DomesticViolenceFactSheet(National).pdf.
[3] Kasandra Perkins Shot Nine Times, ESPN,
Jan. 14, 2013, http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8843179/kasandra-perkins-slain-girlfriend-kansas-city-chiefs-lb-jovan-belcher-shot-nine-times-autopsy.
[4] Justin Peters,
No, Seriously, the NFL Really Does Have a
Domestic Violence Problem, Slate, Dec. 4, 2012, http://www.slate.com/blogs/crime/2012/12/04/jovan_belcher_murder_suicide_no_seriously_the_nfl_really_does_have_a_domestic.html.
[5] Anna North, The Link Between Athletes And Domestic
Violence, Sep. 13, 2011, http://jezebel.com/5839795/the-link-between-athletes-and-domestic-violence.
[6] Jemele Hill, End The Silence About Domestic Violence,
ESPN, Dec. 4, 2012, http://espn.go.com/espnw/commentary/8705353/time-end-silence-domestic-violence.
[7] Paul A. Clark,
Mandatory Arrest for Misdemeanor Domestic
Violence: Is Alaska's Arrest Statute Constitutional?, 27 Alaska L. Rev.
151, 160 (2010).
[8] Thomas L.
Hafemeister, If All You Have Is A Hammer:
Society's Ineffective Response to Intimate Partner Violence, 60 Cath. U. L.
Rev. 919, 1001 (2011) (noting the states are Connecticut, Maine, New Jersey,
North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, and Wisconsin)
[9] See Jonathan J. Houston, Batterers’ Intervention Program Analysis,
Justice Assistance, Apr. 11, 2011
(noting that in a recent nationwide study only “19.8% of those enrolled in BIPs
re-offended – 39.4% of whom re-offended by driving with a suspended driver’s
license”).
[10] Bethany P.
Withers, The Integrity of the Game:
Professional Athletes and Domestic Violence, 1 Harv. J. Sports & Ent.
L. 145, 148 (2010).
I would be willing to bet that military combat-trained men could fall into the same category as athletes. While I agree that more methods to decrease domestic violence are needed, I also think that conversation should happen to address what is available to the receivers of the abuse. I would imagine that the wealth of our athletes add to the willingness of some victims to not only continue to be abused, but fail to report it.
ReplyDeleteI think this blogger brought out some excellent points. The blog is very informative! I didn't realize, that the number of domestic violence cases against professional athletes was so high. We have put too many of our athletes on a pedestal and requard them much higher than we should! Now, they expect preferential treatment, when they commit a crime.
ReplyDeleteI like the "no drop" policy, because once there is a domestic violence charge the suspect should be charged, tried and convicted, if they are guilty. Let's face it, many times the victim is afraid to pursue the case.
The point, that the blogger brought out on therapy is an excellent idea. It's very important to keep this violence from re-occurring.
Thank you, Bethany Peak, for another great and informative blog!