Deadspin: Zero Tolerance for Domestic Violence will only make it worse

[Alma]

http://deadspin.com/zero-tolerance-for-domestic-violence-will-only-make-it-1787428167

From the piece:

Domestic violence can’t be ended; it can be addressed. That won’t, though, be about get-tough policies, or one-game or six-game or life-long suspensions, or shadow judiciaries, or doing what’s best for public relations, or taking stances that will only drive victims underground. It will require doing something truly radical: treating players and their wives like human beings.

 

[Dick Whitman]

http://deadspin.com/zero-tolerance-for-domestic-violence-will-only-make-it-1787428167

From the piece:

Domestic violence can’t be ended; it can be addressed. That won’t, though, be about get-tough policies, or one-game or six-game or life-long suspensions, or shadow judiciaries, or doing what’s best for public relations, or taking stances that will only drive victims underground. It will require doing something truly radical: treating players and their wives like human beings.

Tagline : "John Harbaugh is the head football coach of the Baltimore Ravens."

 

[User 4332]

This line in the blog post just about makes me apoplectic:

All the while, though, a basic question has gone unasked: What would the end of Josh Brown’s career mean for Molly Brown and her children?

That bull**** argument has been used for decades to try and justify slap-on-the-wrist punishment for domestic abusers. What happens to Molly Brown and her children when her abuser never faces serious consequences for his behavior and escalates his abuse against her?

 

[cranberry]

Uh, that's not bull**** at all. It's a genuine concern among people who work on domestic abuse policy for people at all socioeconomic levels -- not just professional athletes. Taking away a family's income, introducing more stress to the situation, often exacerbates the problem.

 

[User 4332]

Perhaps bull**** is too strong of a word. Unemployment is one of many, many factors in what is an incredibly entangled, emotional and difficult problem. And it should not be the lone or determinative factor in deciding how to respond, which is what I think this writer is implying.

I've prosecuted somewhere in the ballpark of 1,000 domestic violence crimes. In all of those, I think I've had less than 10 where the defendant's potential loss of employment was a serious factor in how the case was handled.

I've seen many, many cases where the fear of the abuser losing his job had been used to justify lax punishment, or no punishment, in earlier cases only to have escalated violence end up on my desk years later. One of those included an abuser who was a homicide cop.

And to be clear: I am not arguing in favor of pro sports having a zero tolerance policy. But there are many of us who work in professions where our ability to continue working in that job would be severely in jeopardy if we were charged with a domestic violence crime. There is a difference, though, between being unable to get a job, period, and working in one's chosen profession.

 

[UPChip]

Katie Nolan spoke at length about this two weeks ago. I'd get the link but I'' feeling kind of lazy today.