Lucas Garner
Professor Dallaire
ENG 120
20 November 2014
Equal Time for Equal Crime
Athletes currently receive shorter jail sentences than average people; however, they should not be allowed this luxury. Athletes get shorter jail sentences because they are role models to children around the world; however, they should receive equal time for equal crime. In cases such as Dante Stallworth, O.J Simpson, and Laurence Taylor, athletes got away with crimes that an average person wouldn’t.
Athletes should be held responsible for their crimes because of their role in society. Athletes need to be held to the very highest of standards when it comes to criminal punishment, athletes are role models and the justice system needs to show that no matter who
…show more content…
does the crime the time should be equal. The justice system has shown many inconsistencies throughout the years when it comes to cases where average people were accused of a crime and an athlete is accused of the same crime, and the athlete gets little to no jail time, while the average person receives a lengthy sentence. There are many cases of athletes getting away with crimes such as the Dante Stallworth case, the O.J. Simpson case, and the Laurence Taylor case, these are just a few examples of athletes getting away easy with crimes. In the case of Dante Stallworth, Stallworth was a college star who was drafted in the first round of the 2002 National Football League draft, by the New Orleans Saints. Stallworth played in the NFL for seven years and had just signed a seven year $35 million dollar contract just before he missed the entire 2009 season. Stallworth missed the entire 2009 because he pled guilty to a DUI manslaughter charge. He was driving home on March 14th 2009 around 7:00 a.m. when he hit and killed a pedestrian walking across the street. The victim, Mario Reyes, was crossing the street to get on a bus to go to work. Stallworth’s blood alcohol level was .126, the legal limit in Florida is .08. Stallworth was charged with DUI manslaughter, which could have a maximum sentence of fifteen years in prison. Stallworth received thirty days in prison along with two years house arrest after his sentence and eight years of probation (Ridenour). In a similar case, on September 15th 2007, Tony Rodgers, a forty-six year old from Deltona, Florida, was driving in Florida when he struck and killed a motorcycle rider. Rodgers had a blood alcohol level of .127. After a two and a half hour jury deliberation Rodgers was sentenced to twelve years in prison, with two years of probation after his sentence and his driving privileges withdrawn for life. (“Deltona”) These two cases are a prime example of when an athlete gets away with a crime and an “Average Joe” does not.
Stallworth and Rodgers both had blood alcohol levels well over Florida’s legal limit, Stallworth’s was .126, and Rodgers was .127, both accidently killed another person, and both pled guilty. Yet, Stallworth received thirty days in prison and two years house arrest and eight years of probation, and Rodgers received twelve years of prison and two years of probation plus he lost his driving privileges for life. The reasons for such different sentencing are unknown, but what is known is that there is a clear and visible separation in the consequences. “When athletes…, whose actions were considerably less serious than some of the other high-profile examples of athletes running afoul of the law, are let off easy, it reeks of preferential treatment” …show more content…
(Charkow). Lawrence Taylor was an NFL linebacker for thirteen years, he was drafted second overall in the 1981 NFL draft.
Taylor was inducted into the National Football Hall of Fame in 1999. Taylor always had off-field troubles that plagued his career, he failed a drug test due to cocaine and crack use and because of it suffered a thirty-day suspension from football. That failed drug test was only the first of many more off-field issues to come for Taylor, in 2010, Taylor was “arrested in New York, and charged with third-degree rape and soliciting prostitution in a case involving a 16-year-old girl” (“Lawrence”). In January, 2011, he pled guilty to two misdemeanors, which were related to the arrest in New York that required him to register as a sex offender. Taylor pled guilty and was sentenced to just six months probation for the entire incident. (Smith)
Justin Farrara was a twenty-seven year old assistant wrestling coach at Eden High School in Buffalo, New York. Farrara had sexual relations with two female students after he had stopped coaching, the girls were sixteen and fifteen years old. The police report says the girls were willing partners, but because Farrara was over twenty-one and they were under seventeen, the girls could not legally give consent. Thus Farrara was charged with two counts of third degree rape, and pled guilty. After sentencing, Farrara will have to spend two years in prison and also has eight years of probation after he get out.
(Brecher) This is an example of two similar cases with two very different endings. Taylor and Farrara both pled guilty to third degree rape, both had sex with underage girls and both had willing partners. If anything Taylor’s partner was less willing than Farrara’s, because when she took the stand she said ‘I told Lawrence Taylor it was my first time and that I did not feel comfortable... He went ahead anyway and had sexual intercourse with me.’ Still, regardless of this statement their cases had two very different endings with Farrara seeing two years of jail time, and Taylor only getting probation. Leonard Little was an NFL defensive end who was drafted in the third round of the 1998 NFL draft, by the St. Louis Rams. Little played in the NFL for twelve years all with the Rams. In June, 1998, on the night of Little’s twenty-fourth birthday he was out at a party, while driving home he struck and killed Susan Gutweiler. Little later pled guilty to involuntary manslaughter, and received 90 days of working at the city workhouse, four years of probation, and 1,000 hours of community service. (“Little”)
Athletes do not always get in trouble, but when they do some athletes tend to have favoritism shown to them by the law enforcement. When it comes to athletes that break the law, one major viewpoint is that some athletes tend to get special treatment when they commit crimes because they are famous, but with harsher consequences. Athletes are supposed to be role models for younger kids who look up to them, but they are getting in trouble and causing controversy for all the wrong reasons and it is affecting their careers, the athletes might not think that it is because of the favoritism that law enforcement shows them, but it is. When athletes do commit crimes law enforcement tends to be bias toward them because they are known around the world (Withers). Therefore, this causes a lot of controversy surrounding the athlete because many people believe that they do not get disciplined like they should.
Ethical Rules on Sport’s Justice. Dallas: East Dallas Times, page 21. 2008. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Print: Harry, Patrick Hayes.
Overcoming the past and extreme obstacles is nothing new to Ray Lewis. His past is filled with dark secrets that not just anyone could forget; therefore, he is my idol. Lewis’s legacy will be tainted by the events of January 31, 2000, for some. Early that morning in Atlanta, a brawl broke out, two were found dead, and Lewis, along with two others, was charged with murder the next day. Ray Lewis was charged for a murder in a bar. Ray Lewis was going through hard time during this innocent and his career. Lewis pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice and Superior Court Judge Alice D. Bonner sentenced Lewis to 12 months' probation, the maximum sentence for a first-time o...
In the last three years alone the list of the accused included Dante Bichette, Barry Bonds, John Daly, Scottie Pippen, Jose Conseco, Bobby Cox, Mike Tyson, Warren Moon, Michael Cooper, Darryl Strawberry, Duane Causwell, Olden Polynice, Robert Parish, and OJ Simpson( Callahan, Sports Ilustrated). And these are only the pro athletes whose wives had the courage to report the violence.
College athletes are manipulated every day. Student athletes are working day in and day out to meet academic standards and to keep their level of play competitive. These athletes need to be rewarded and credited for their achievements. Not only are these athletes not being rewarded but they are also living with no money. Because the athletes are living off of no money they are very vulnerable to taking money from boosters and others that are willing to help them out. The problem with this is that the athletes are not only getting themselves in trouble but their athletic departments as well.
The jury in the Iowa Supreme Court convicted him of knowingly disseminating obscene material to a minor and required him to register as a sex offender.3 In the United States, seventeen states have enacted special sexting laws that outline what parties are culpable and the punishments for sending and receiving sexts to and from minors.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The Health and fitness industry have many ethical issues involved which was very interesting to me. I have never purchased a membership at a health club, but from the reading I learned a lot about how they operate. It amazed me that health clubs push their sales representatives to get 200-300 new members a month (Amend, 1992). This is a large amount of people for such a short amount a time, which means some members are not fully aware of the fine print of the membership agreement. Also the reading mentions that more than half of instructors at these clubs do not have valid certification (Copeland et al, 1988),. This is unethical because the members pay each month for the service of a qualified staff member to assist them in exercise and fitness. Safety of the members could also be at risk working out with a non-qualified trainer. Learning how these companies do business make me want to hold off as long as possible to join a gym.
This is cheating. Ever since we were 5 we knew that it was wrong. When ever some one cheated in a game, you would kick up a stink to try making it fair, because you were cheated. And no one likes a cheater. These athletes deserve more than just a wrap on the knuckles and having to give up some of their pocket money. They ran the risk, and they were caught. They deserve what they get.
Athletes these days are wearing a new kind of uniform and this uniform is not anything like the uniforms that we see them in on the field or on the court. These garments that we see athletes in are not the suits that they are wearing to the red carpet events or to the award show either. In fact these players even have a new kind of jersey number when wearing this uniform. The more athletes are convicted of crimes the larger the number of players we have as prisoners in their new uniforms which happen to be orange jumpsuits. These athletes are going from helmets to handcuffs in the drop off a hat and are being convicted of crimes that put them in far more danger than the actual sport they play.
College athletes are not paid, yet they generate a great deal of money for the school, which is unfair. College athletes have to spend less time on their school work. Schools take advantage of them to make money. Colleges don’t care what the athlete does outside of sports. Many of them earn meaningless degrees because most of their time is spent on sports instead of school. The time spent on sports is more than the time spent on their school work. Playing sports in college is like a full time job. They spend a huge amount of their time training: lifting weights and watching their diets. It is unfair that college athletes are not getting paid because they spend most of their time on sports, they risk injury, and they have high dropout rates due to frustration.
I strongly recommend the article “Why Suspensions Won’t Deter PED Users Like Maria Sharapova” by Zach Petersel to be published in The Shorthorn newspaper. Petersel’s article is incisive, coherent, and persuasive; his discussions are relevant and have sufficient evidences to support his claim. The issue of the article is complex, controversial and intriguing standing suitable for most of The Shorthorn readers including professional athletes, trainers, investors, and sports enthusiasts.
Imagine standing at a football game during the national anthem. Then you see something odd, something you don’t see often. Players sitting during the national anthem. You ask yourself, would I ever protest the national anthem if I had the choice? This scenario is happening way too often. Players should not be protesting the national anthem just to get some attention. Pro athletes have gone too far because it is not the right time to protest, little kids are looking up to the pro players, and thousands of people have died so they can kneel and not honor those men and women.
A lot of Athletes are model citizens that you should really look up to, but there are. also some bad apples in the bunch that ruin it for everyone. Athletes can inspire young people to work hard so that their efforts can pay off, but no one. is pure and flawless. Greed does take a hold of some players, but they do. shouldn't be the ones we devote all of our attention to.
In my opinion I do believe athletes, whether college or pro, are treated differently. I say this because, most of the time when an athlete has broken the law, people treat it as an “example” or even a lesson that needs/needed to be learned. To support that, the people that have the money and attorneys, are the people who are able to make their mistakes disappear. Having done some research, I came across a few articles stating the top 15 athletes that got away with crimes, which include some of the following; vehicular manslaughter, rape, homicide, and drugs.
Teachers, police officers, and firemen commit way more than pro athletes and entertainers. Do you think entertaining fans is more important than educating students? Professional athletes and entertainers get too much money, which should go towards schools and the military.