<p>It is just more visible because the athletes are public figures. I am pretty sure this has been verified by several studies, but last I remember, the incidence rate of violence by NFL players is actually lower, by a good margin. than men in the general population. Pretty sure the overall arrest record of NFL players was lower than the general population as well. But, the general population is not on TV or make millions, so less attention is paid to it.</p>
<p>Plus, athletes kind of set themselves up as role models (or the media does), and therefore, any behavior by them is magnified. However, magnified does not mean more prevalent. </p>
<p>Hitting a woman is a terribly misogynistic thing to do. Misogyny should be treated at least as harshly as racism. The sponsors who pulled out of Clippers broadcasts should pull out of NFL broadcasts as well. Deeds are worse than words.</p>
<p>This is part of the magnification I mean. It is easy to go after a person who has sponsors, but way much less is done to the unknown general population whose members hit their wives more often than NFL players.</p>
<p>A lawyer convicted of a crime can lose his license. A doctor might lose his. I know a person with a conviction for a felony wouldn’t even get into medical school. Any job that requires a criminal background check would keep a convicted wife batterer unemployed. What’s your point? It’s the criminal justice system that should treat all abusers alike. It seems like Rice got off easy when the prosecutor put him in a diversion program that only some elite !% get. Things like that really tick me off. As far as monetary punishment, yes, those who have sponsors or licenses or jobs to lose do get punished more than a day laborer or someone who is self-employed. </p>
<p>I’m not sure that that is the case. If you took a similar sized group of co-workers in various other professions as you have on an NFL team, do you honestly think that the number arrested would be similar? I don’t. </p>
<p>Bottom line: Relative to their income level (top 1%) and the poverty rate (0), the arrests in the NFL for domestic violence are extraordinarily high.</p>
<p>Sure. But, please note the distinction. It is not just the public clamoring for action, regardless.</p>
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<p>If I recall one study correctly, it looked at the NFL players before and after playing in the NFL, and the results were the same - they had less records of violence in their history, before the NFL and after joining the NFL. I am not even a sports person or watch weekend football (I do watch the Superbowl), so I could care less. I just like to know about the known stats, which exist when I am reading something. </p>
<p>People are free to join and partake in whatever causes they see fit. I just am very, very careful about making up stats and and saying something is a certain way when it is all opinion. </p>
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<p>The studies looked at the rate of incidences - that is independent of size. Again, people are reading their opinion as fact to determine how an entire group should be treated. </p>
<p>And compared to the the general population, where did these NFL players, in the majority, come from? Poverty and very low-income families, with 85% being black. It is interesting then you expect them to act like rich white people. </p>
<p>Do people actually think if you just give a 21 or 22 year-old black, low-income person lots of money that they magically change the way they were brought up and the conditions in which they were raised? People seem to have to completely missed the fact that most players in this 85% black league were raised in a completely different culture than the majority of NFL fans. Culture matters much more than money because culture determines behavior, not money. </p>
<p>However, it would be nice to have some consistency - I notice now the issues were changed to income and poverty levels, from general population. Yet, earlier in the thread, it was a blanket statement that the NFL is more violent. Now people want to say more violent than other rich people, most of who grew up rich - rich people grow up with a lot more to lose, so they are trained by parents to be less violent and protective of their assets re negative interactions with the law. No Einstein needed to understand that. </p>
<p>My point is still compared to the general population NFL players are not more violent. You can believe that if you want, but nothing to support it in any data that I have seen. But if you want to breakdown cohorts, it should be acknowledged that most NFL players come from the lower rungs of the general population, i.e., the rungs with the highest crimes rates, not from the subset of 1% rich households. Therefore, it is not surprising in the least that NFL players have a different behavior pattern than rich people and vice versa.</p>
<p>Rhw police official who claims to have sent the video to the NFL should come out of the shadows. Otherwise, I don’t believe the story. Anyone can claim to be an official and lie about sending the tape. Also, just because you sent it, doesn’t mean the commissioner received it. Lastly, the story is also suspicious that the law enforcement official recorded the conversation with a woman from the NFL. Let’s bring all of these people out and put them on record. Otherwise, the NFL blew this, they’ve already admitted this and Ray Rice received harsher punishment from the NFL than the legal system.</p>
<p>I wonder if it is a case that the better off fans don’t engage in domestic violence or is it a case that we don’t hear about it, ignore if we do and in most cases media seldomly covers it?</p>
<p>Look at a domestic violence case involving federal judge Mark Fuller. I bet most people have not heard anything about it but here is a guy who plays god with people’s lives daily and comes from that so-called better culture.</p>
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<p>Then the judge hearing his case did not want the charges of domestic violence to have any impact on judge Fuller’s legacy so she slap him on the wrist.</p>
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<p>I think most reasonable people would say a federal judge committing domestic violence should lose his pay and benefits before an NFL lplayer, if as some say that “culture matters.”</p>
<p>Some reasons why domestic abuse <em>seems</em> less prevalent among the “better culture”:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>The “better people” (read: richer people) live in single-family homes, and the homes are separated by land. The sounds of domestic violence are less likely to be overheard,and therefore less likely to be reported, by neighbors.</p></li>
<li><p>The “better people” have more to lose if they are reported. See, for example, our friend the judge. In the past, wives of prominent/wealthy men were less likely to report their abuse because they too had more to lose, and because there was no support for battered wives.</p></li>
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