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Baltimore Raven Ray Rice’s Domestic Violence Spurs New NFL Policy

Published onOct 07, 2014
Baltimore Raven Ray Rice’s Domestic Violence Spurs New NFL Policy

In March, then-current Baltimore Raven running back was indicted for aggravated assault against his now wife Janay Palmer.   A new video released shows the assault itself, which occurred in an elevator at the Revel Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City on February 15th and ended with Palmer being dragged, unconscious from the elevator.  The NFL’s initial response to Rice’s action was a two game suspension, but this resulted in massive outcries from the public on the inadequacy of this punishment.  Some of the most outspoken were women, who account for 45% of the league’s total fan base.  Commissioner Roger Goodell responded by creating a new domestic violence policy for the NFL, aided in part by Kim Gandy, the president of the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Goodell sent a letter to each of the NFL owners with his new proposed policy, which is primarily based on stiffer penalties.  For the first domestic violence offense, the player would face a six-game suspension without pay, and for the second, a lifetime ban from the NFL.  This plan would apply to all personnel, including executives and owners.  Goodell writes in the letter, “I didn’t get it right. Simply put, we have to do better. And we will.”  A copy of the letter can be found here.

While initially unclear, the league has since attempted to help define some of the terms used in the policy.  For example an “offense” was said to not necessarily be limited to a conviction in a court of competent jurisdiction, but that each incident will be “judged on its own merits.”  Some criticize the new policy as mere puffery, as the Commissioner always had the power to suspend players for as long as he deemed reasonable.

But regardless of your opinion on the policy, the question remains whether it will be effective to prevent domestic violence.  What makes domestic violence cases particularly difficult, whether you are an NFL player’s wife or anyone else’s is that the victims of this violence often depend on their abusive partners for financial support and so will be less likely to report the violence if it will mean economic consequences for them.  This is precisely what the NFL has done by instituting the 6 game suspension without pay.  The second offense has an even greater economic effect—the loss of potential millions.

So, will the policy be effective?  No.  The reason that Rice pled guilty in this case was that he was caught on video abusing his fiancée.  It was not because she told anyone about it, and in fact she apologized to the public for her part in the incident.  The NFL’s policy may have good intentions, but unless the abuse is continuously caught on film, it may ultimately be hard to enforce.

* John Hodnette is a third year law student at Wake Forest University School of Law. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English, with a minor in Philosophy, from Auburn University. Upon graduation, he intends to practice in the Chicago area.

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