Pros and Cons by Jeff Benedict & Don Yaeger

Author:Jeff Benedict & Don Yaeger [BENEDICT, JEFF]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780446930055
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 1999-10-01T04:00:00+00:00

Loath to acknowledge the scope of the domestic violence problem within the league, the NFL, as Congressman Sanders and Liffort Hobley both learned, takes exception whenever anyone suggests otherwise. The league argues repeatedly that there is no statistical evidence suggesting athletes are arrested for domestic violence more than any other segment of the male population. While true, this fact alone hardly proves that there is no problem. According to the authors’ research, in fact, domestic violence is the biggest problem the league faces in terms of criminal conduct among its players. Of the 109 criminally accused players in the authors’ player-crime index, they were responsible for forty-five domestic violence arrests. No other crime, including drunk driving, showed up as often in players’ criminal background checks. And arrests statistics only begin to tell the story.

The authors’ research of police records revealed that it is not uncommon for players’ wives to call 911 for help, only to decline to press charges after police have arrived and restored order. The reasons, which are elaborated on below, are primarily: 1) the excessive media attention that their allegations will attract due to the player’s fame, and 2) fear that no one will believe them due to their husband’s status.

In addition to the unwillingness on the part of victims to press charges, there is a unique factor at play when the abuser is an NFL player—he benefits from tactics employed by teams to repress incidents of spousal abuse from coming to the attention of the authorities, as well as the media.

“What you’ve got is a coddled class of people,” domestic violence judge Ed Newman, the former Dolphins lineman, said in an interview for this book. “Instead of being an ordinary person on the street receiving the same punishment, the NFL player may be told ‘Don’t worry about it. Keep on catching the touchdown pass.’ The problem is intercepted before it comes to the light of day.”

Based on his experience as both a player and a judge, Newman agreed with the NFL’s stand in one respect. He insisted that NFL players are no more likely than other males to be involved with domestic violence. Where they differ, he said, is in how they are treated after the fact. “These are darker shadows in the alleyways of life,” said Judge Newman. “The league would rather have blinders on. They want to close that door unless it becomes a liability.”

Interviews conducted by the authors with numerous representatives from NFL teams confirm that it is common for teams to take steps to both insulate players from criminal prosecution and conceal abuse from the public.

The Dallas Cowboys were one of the first teams to provide counseling to players with domestic violence problems, offering the service as far back as 1982. Larry Wansley, an ex-FBI agent, oversaw the counseling program between 1982 and 1989, during which time he met personally with players struggling with family violence. “Domestic violence was not as pervasive as drugs when I was hired by the Cowboys,” said Wansley in an interview for this book.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.