NFL implements penalties for domestic violence incidents

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Irish

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http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/11425377/nfl-implements-domestic-violence-penalties

SEVERE PENALTIES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
By Jane McManus | Aug 28, 2014
espnW.com
The NFL is immediately implementing a sweeping domestic violence initiative that calls for a six-game suspension for a first offense and a lifetime ban from the league for a second offense.

The measures, announced in a letter from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to all team owners, a copy of which was obtained by ESPN, are due in part to widespread criticism Goodell received for his handling of discipline for Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. The two-game suspension for Rice left many with the impression that the NFL did not understand domestic violence or take it seriously as a crime. Goodell acknowledged as much in the letter.

"At times, however, and despite our best efforts, we fall short of our goals," Goodell wrote. "We clearly did so in response to a recent incident of domestic violence. ... My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment, and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families. I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values.

"I didn't get it right."

The letter states that the six-game suspension for a first offense could be increased in some cases.

"Among the circumstances that would merit a more severe penalty would be a prior incident before joining the NFL, or violence involving a weapon, choking, repeated striking, or when the act is committed against a pregnant woman or in the presence of a child," the letter read. "A second offense will result in banishment from the NFL."

Players would be able to apply for reinstatement. The letter states that the policy applies to all NFL personnel, not just players.

In February, Rice was arrested on a charge of aggravated assault after knocking out his girlfriend in an elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Surveillance video showed Rice dragging then-girlfriend Janay Palmer, who appeared unconscious, out of the elevator. Unreleased video showed Rice striking Palmer in the elevator.

In July, Goodell announced that Rice would be suspended for the first two games of the regular season. There was deep and sustained criticism from fans and groups who work with victims of domestic violence. The number of games was less than the suspension given for most other infractions, such as substance abuse, steroid use or DUI offenses. The penalty for those items is determined by the collective bargaining agreement hammered out with the players' union in 2011.

Domestic violence infractions, however, fall under the personal conduct policy, which meant that Goodell alone was able to determine the severity of any fine or suspension. The fact that the Ravens held a press conference with Rice in May and had Janay sitting next to him on the dais also seemed to imply she shared responsibility -- whether or not that was the intention.

The fact that Goodell reportedly allowed Janay Rice into the hearing to plead for leniency in front of her husband's employers struck many as inappropriate.

"Having done this work for many years, often a victim will say she doesn't want the abuser punished," said Judy Kluger, a former New York City judge and current executive director of Sanctuary for Families, after the decision was announced. "That shouldn't deter what an independent organization decides to do."
 

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@HE WITH HORNS

I deleted your comment without waiting for the other members to give you 5 inappropriates because well....damn. Even if it was in blue font it would still have to go.
 

Philly5

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I will believe there is a lifetime ban when I see it. Always so much gray with these things.
 

A55VA6

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Damnnn. So does this apply to Ray Rice since he's had a 1st time offense already, but only resulted in 2 games?

I like this though. This will really force players to think about their actions.
 

Warner4Prez

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Do they expect us to applaud them for this? I hope not. It may be too little too late.
 

LesBaker

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This is a bad rule and obviously I am against domestic violence but to go from a 6 game ban to lifetime is draconian.

What's worse driving under the influence where you could kill or maim or pushing a woman to the ground if she slaps you?

They need to rethink this because the term "domestic violence" is an umbrella that covers a lot and varies wildly from state to state.
 

Bluesy

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Not that I'm against this or anything, players need to be mature and not be idiots when given the opportunity of a lifetime...

That said, it seems like the NFL is making it's own legal system haha.
 

Mackeyser

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You KNOW I had to jump in here…

http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/11425377/nfl-implements-domestic-violence-penalties

Basically, its’ an auto 6 games on the first incident and A LIFETIME BAN on the second incident. What’s even more impressive and more noteworthy is that there are escalators for that first incident, such as:

an employee (YES, this means ALL NFL employees) was involved in a prior incident before joining the NFL; violence involving a weapon; choking, repeated striking, or when the act is committed against a pregnant woman; or in the presence of a child.

- Prior acts. So, this WILL affect this upcoming college draft. Think Jameis Winston, who’s had his domestic violence at FSU covered up.
- Act involved a weapon. That’s pretty straight forward.
- Choking. LOTS of guys have choked women and had nothing come of it. With the potential of an 8 game suspension and teams knowing that, these guys become seriously devalued.
- Repeated striking. It’s one thing to say “there’s a line. You just never hit a woman.” It’s another when the abuse beats the crap out of her. I would imagine that a “beating” would escalate substantially, perhaps to a year, even, on the first offense. Let’s just say that you DO NOT want to be the guy to test Goodell on this.
- Pregnant woman. Few things jump up as wrong as the idea of striking a pregnant woman. I imagine the escalators will be as severe for this as for repeated striking, if not more so.
- Presence of child(ren). This brings up violence not only on the person being struck but the collateral damage of the children forced to see that as well. Again, I imagine this will be dealt with most harshly.

I am very glad that Roger Goodell has changed courses on this. I have been about the harshest critic you could find on Goodell on just about everything, but this is the right thing to do going forward.

As for players and NFL employees, this will forever after be known as the Ray Rice rule and he’ll be known as a domestic abuser and someone who “got away with it”. If a player violates the rule and is suspended or banned, they will be “Ray Riced” or “Riced”. That is his legacy now.

I really hope it changes behavior, because… humans should love one another and dammit, this shouldn’t even be a story.

On a completely separate note: I DO know for certain that it DRAMATICALLY changed the 2015 NFL draft. All those red flag guys teams might want to take a flyer on? Well, you don’t take draft flyers on guys facing possible 6-8+ game suspensions because they’ve got domestic violence stuff in their past. All of THOSE guys just dropped.
 

LesBaker

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A big problem here is this.......

A woman can make a claim that is false and a guy could end up getting screwed because of it. This is toooooo harsh and WAY to broad stroked. I hope they have more details ironed out or will at least revisit this when it blows up in their face.
 

Mackeyser

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I gotta disagree with you, here, Les. They don't ban a guy because a woman just makes an allegation. C'mon. There are legal ramifications for the league if they did that. The player could sue and they'd win.

At the very least, they will rely on physical evidence, police reports, video and testimony prior to making any decisions. And I STILL expect the NFL to be circumspect about engaging in any actions in the absence of any legal proceedings.

This is LONG overdue and is finally in an appropriate place. The number of "innocent victims" of the NFL domestic abuse policy will be exactly....ZERO.
 

ShaneFalco

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so instead of loosening the penalties on a substance that is now medically legal in 22 states, lets crack down more on domestic abuse!

Great logic Goodell.
 

HE WITH HORNS

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I deleted your comment without waiting for the other members to give you 5 inappropriates because well....damn. Even if it was in blue font it would still have to go.

It was suppose to be a joke, since we have almost all guys here, but yeah, I can see that that was a little outta line.
 

Mackeyser

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so instead of loosening the penalties on a substance that is now medically legal in 22 states, lets crack down more on domestic abuse!

Great logic Goodell.

The two are not mutually exclusive. He should do both.

I've been VERY outspoken about marijuana legalization, especially about moving it to a Schedule III or IV drug from the Schedule I drug it is now. The researcher who discovered THC lives in Israel and his current research indicates that THC helps the brain heal after brain trauma. NO one can research THC in the US because it's a Schedule I drug and by definition, has no medical value...which this current research abroad pretty much says is wrong. Anyway, this researcher's early research shows the brain healing with THC using mice and this is supported by anecdotal evidence within the medical community such that it warrants further and human studies. It's in the NFL's financial interests to promote THC research and responsible marijuana consumption over alcohol consumption (unless the NFL is going to go the abstinence route and give up all those advertising dollars, which I doubt) and the abuse and violence that comes from that.

The ramifications of such research for the NFL is just...STAGGERING, especially in light of the effects of multiple concussions, Post Concussions Syndrome, the relation to Chronic Traumatic Encephalophathy, Parkinsons and a host of other medical issues.

Moreover, researchers have already said they could develop THC based therapies that do not "get you high" (really no jokes, please). And that's a huge deal with respect to moving that through the legislative process and opening people's minds.

So, I absolutely agree that the NFL is wrong, wrong-headed and not even following their own economic interests beyond this year's alcohol advertising dollars on the matter of marijuana, THC and that it's still even part of the testing protocols.

That said, it's about damn time the NFL stood up for women. For far too long have NFL players committed some damned disgraceful acts of violence against women only to have the NFL look the other way as if domestic violence meant nothing. This take has been long overdue. That this rule will be the "Ray Rice" rule versus <insert NFL player/domestic abuser here> is a function of timing. That would be the Rice suspension happening with several other lesser offenses garnering severe penalties including Josh Gordon getting his "3rd strike" 1 year ban that got upheld even upon appeal. Worse, the NFL violated typical investigative domestic violence protocols by having the abused tell her story in front of her abuser, not to mention his agent and attorney. Word is she did not have separate counsel present.

Point is that this was LONG overdue and I, for one, never thought Goodell had the stones to do this, especially in light of the original Ray Rice sentence.
 

ShaneFalco

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The two are not mutually exclusive. He should do both.

I've been VERY outspoken about marijuana legalization, especially about moving it to a Schedule III or IV drug from the Schedule I drug it is now. The researcher who discovered THC lives in Israel and his current research indicates that THC helps the brain heal after brain trauma. NO one can research THC in the US because it's a Schedule I drug and by definition, has no medical value...which this current research abroad pretty much says is wrong. Anyway, this researcher's early research shows the brain healing with THC using mice and this is supported by anecdotal evidence within the medical community such that it warrants further and human studies. It's in the NFL's financial interests to promote THC research and responsible marijuana consumption over alcohol consumption (unless the NFL is going to go the abstinence route and give up all those advertising dollars, which I doubt) and the abuse and violence that comes from that.

The ramifications of such research for the NFL is just...STAGGERING, especially in light of the effects of multiple concussions, Post Concussions Syndrome, the relation to Chronic Traumatic Encephalophathy, Parkinsons and a host of other medical issues.

Moreover, researchers have already said they could develop THC based therapies that do not "get you high" (really no jokes, please). And that's a huge deal with respect to moving that through the legislative process and opening people's minds.

So, I absolutely agree that the NFL is wrong, wrong-headed and not even following their own economic interests beyond this year's alcohol advertising dollars on the matter of marijuana, THC and that it's still even part of the testing protocols.

That said, it's about damn time the NFL stood up for women. For far too long have NFL players committed some damned disgraceful acts of violence against women only to have the NFL look the other way as if domestic violence meant nothing. This take has been long overdue. That this rule will be the "Ray Rice" rule versus <insert NFL player/domestic abuser here> is a function of timing. That would be the Rice suspension happening with several other lesser offenses garnering severe penalties including Josh Gordon getting his "3rd strike" 1 year ban that got upheld even upon appeal. Worse, the NFL violated typical investigative domestic violence protocols by having the abused tell her story in front of her abuser, not to mention his agent and attorney. Word is she did not have separate counsel present.

Point is that this was LONG overdue and I, for one, never thought Goodell had the stones to do this, especially in light of the original Ray Rice sentence.
i live in Denver bro! dont gotta tell me about the benefits of it as we see kids here go from 300 seizures down to 1 a week.

As for the women, im all for it, but when you look at what time they did this, it was because they were women saying stuff such as "6 games for a joint, 2 games for beating your wife".

This whole move was based on public relations. It should have been done 10 years ago. Why now? Why now after people are questioning your authoritarian drug policy, and lenient punishment of women beaters, do you now respond?

I dont think they would have done jack about it, if there wasnt this outcry because of Ray Rice.
 

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i live in Denver bro! dont gotta tell me about the benefits of it as we see kids here go from 300 seizures down to 1 a week.

Sure there are benefits but there's also a downside. My son had his car totaled by two girls who were driving while smoking pot. People can stay home and smoke their brains out for all I care. It's not my business. But when they get out on the road while stoned, there are consequences. All we need is more of these irresponsible types, along with drunk drivers, to cause more injuries and deaths. Watch as this becomes a noticeable problem in Colorado and Washington state.
 

ShaneFalco

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Sure there are benefits but there's also a downside. My son had his car totaled by two girls who were driving while smoking pot. People can stay home and smoke their brains out for all I care. It's not my business. But when they get out on the road while stoned, there are consequences. All we need is more of these irresponsible types, along with drunk drivers, to cause more injuries and deaths. Watch as this becomes a noticeable problem in Colorado and Washington state.
I dunno about that.

Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...lities-in-colorado-are-at-near-historic-lows/

i personally feel people shouldnt do it while they drive, but there is no real testing for it. You can get blood drawn, but all that shows is that someone has taken the substance within 30 days, not that they were stoned at the time of the accident.
 

-X-

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I dunno about that.

Since marijuana legalization, highway fatalities in Colorado are at near-historic lows
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...lities-in-colorado-are-at-near-historic-lows/
Because ... why go outside anymore?

floyd.jpg
 

Athos

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I will believe there is a lifetime ban when I see it. Always so much gray with these things.

Seems rather murky....there ARE gold diggers. Not a lot of them, but they exist, and if they don't get what they want, they could claim domestic violence as "payback."

I do think, however, under cases of convicted domestic assault and battery, these are great rules. Where do you draw the line though? Even a muscle bound idiot of a football player shouldn't have to worry about a lifetime ban if a woman and or her friends start wailing on him.

All that said, I don't think for a minute any of the accused so far have been a damn bit innocent. Especially Ray the turd Rice.