With more video evidence released of Ray Rice assaulting his fiancée (now wife), Janay Palmer, in a New Jersey Casino elevator, the media has been buzzing over Rice’s release from the Baltimore Ravens and indefinite suspension from participation in the NFL. Rice was originally suspended for two games, but the public felt this punishment didn’t fit the crime, especially since other players had been suspended entire seasons for smoking marijuana. After the backlash over the disproportionate sentencing handed out by league President Roger Goodell and the NFL, the league altered its policies towards domestic assault conduct. From Michael Vick’s dogfighting scandal to the relatively recent Aaron Hernandez debacle, the NFL has been under heavy scrutiny over the conduct of its players. How do these big organizations handle such scandals?
Comparisons of arrest rates in the NFL and the general population show that players often have lower rates that the national average for all offenses, including domestic violence. The “NFL criminality myth” is perpetuated when sport is interpreted through a “white lens,” and parallels that of general stereotypes about blacks as crime prone.
- Alfred Blumstein and Jeff Benedict. 1999. “Criminal violence of NFL players compared to the general population.” Chance, 12(3): 12-15.
- Richard E. Lapchick. 2000. “Crime and athletes: New racial stereotypes.” Society, 37(3): 14-20.
Within the NFL, arrests for domestic violence are higher than any other crime, unlike the general population where arrests are higher for other offenses. Few players are successfully prosecuted in the courts for domestic assault, though, and they rarely face sanctions on their eligibility to play.
- Jeff Benedict, J. 1997. Public heroes, private felons: Athletes and crimes against women. Boston, MA: Northeastern University Press.
There is widespread agreement among the general population about which crimes are severe, and what constitutes a just punishment for those crimes (although demographics and victim/offender characteristics modify these effects slightly). The original punishment handed down to Ray Rice did not fit into our collective conceptions of morality and justice, and public outrage is one symptom of that mismatch.
- Wolfgang, M., Figlio, R. M., Tracy, P. E., & Singer, S. I. 1985. The national survey of crime severity. Washington, DC: US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics.
- William Samuel and Elizabeth Moulds. 1986. “The effect of crime severity on perceptions of fair punishment: A California case study.” Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 77(3): 931-948.
- Peter H. Rossi, Jon E. Simpson, and JoAnn L. Miller. 1985. “Beyond crime seriousness: Fitting the punishment to the crime.” Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 1(1): 59-90.
Sociologists know that when an organization’s reputation and integrity is threatened, they often attempt to fix things by distancing themselves from the problem or the perpetrator (disassociation), and/or implementing policies that attempt corrective action. Sometimes these actions are just symbolic gestures, but sometimes they also show real institutional change. In this case the NFL seems to be following the script!
- Keith Michael Hearit. 1995. “Mistakes were made”: Organizations, apologia, and crises of social legitimacy. Communication Studies, 46(1-2), 1-17.
Comments 3
Letta Page — November 19, 2014
I also suggest the piece "A Fall Guy on the Stand," on further research about organizations making examples out of individuals when there's a scandal, going for the "bad apple" argument rather than identifying organizational problems. http://contexts.org/discoveries/a-fall-guy-on-the-stand/
pat murphy — November 20, 2014
is there any more recent research? Much may have changed in the last 10 or so years and the low arrest rate for athletes may reflect that they were not charged with offenses that non athletes were charged with. While we can't measure what isn't there ( how many arrests weren't made) it seems that a direct comparison between the general population and players may not be appropriate. Other variables--fame, access to legal assistance, etc. may account for the lower player arrests.
pat murphy Ph.D.
Finger Lakes Community College
Ryan Larson — December 1, 2014
Excellent points Pat. There is a recent 538 analysis (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/) that shows some of the same trends with more recent data, although I haven't come across anything more recent in peer review journals. Certainly, the social/economic capital afforded to NFL athletes could suppress their rates of arrest. However, this effect might also suppress the rates in the general population as well (albeit to a lesser extent). Based off the current numbers, it appears unlikely that the domestic abuse rate of NFL players is considerably higher than that of the general population, which is a common sentiment floating around in the Ray Rice discourse. But if the 'arrest suppression' effect is big enough, the NFL rate could be higher.