Every fan of the National Football Association (NFL)
is aware of what seems to be a perpetual string of domestic abuse cases
initiated by the actions of high profile stars in the league. Ray Rice, former
running back of the Baltimore Ravens is the first case, having struck his wife
unconscious in an Atlantic City hotel elevator. Once the video became
publicized by famous tabloids, Ray Rice’s contract with the Baltimore Ravens
was immediately dismissed; during which he was currently serving a two game
suspension issued by the NFL’s commissioner.
NJ.com published an article earlier this week,
documenting action spurred on by Ray Rice, also a former running back for the
Rutgers University Scarlet Knights, the largest state university in New
Jersey. State Assemblywomen Carolina Casagrande (R-Monmouth) and Pamela
Lampitt (D-Camden) introduced a bill which seeks to train judges for
cases within a separate domestic violence court. The bill,
if passed, would be implemented over the next three years.
Major benefits of the bill arise, the
first being that it would give domestic violence cases the opportunity to
be ruled by a judge who truly understands the nature of
the violence taking place. In turn this would free
up municipal courts in New Jersey, currently congested with
domestic violence cases, alongside traffic and speeding fines.
I was born and raised in New Jersey. In fact, I have
seen Ray Rice play at High Point Solutions Stadium on numerous occasions.
What I found to be most disturbing and disgraceful is the response by
the NFL. It is important to note that Roger
Goodell, commissioner of the league, believed
the protocol at the time
was efficient and made the decision before
several more instances of domestic abuse surfaced.
However the decision to suspend Rice for two
games immediately suspends any opportunity to suggest
new ideas within the league concerning
something as horrifying as
what occurred between Ray Rice and his wife.
With this being said, I greatly admire
the initiative of both assemblywomen to move forward in creating a
legitimate space for the examination of domestic violence cases.
By separating domestic violence cases,
at least within their respective counties, the
significance and sickness which causes domestic violence to
occur may be more examined and set apart from the driver going five over
the speed limit. As more and more high profile occurrences of
domestic violence are surfacing, New Jersey is seeking to address
such cases with the attention and significance they deserve.
http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/10/after_ray_rice_video_lawmakers_propose_nj_domestic_violence_courts.html
This is an unfortunate reality for the society we live in today. Violence towards women and violence in general is something we seem to always hear about when we turn on the TV. It is also very disheartening to see professional athletes today consistently break the law and draw attention to themselves for conduct off the playing surface.
ReplyDeleteThis is very encouraging to see two assemblywomen being proactive and trying to bring about change in the United States. This bill has the potential to be extremely helpful for the state of New Jersey. I believe this could be something that could help states with larger domestic violence cases than others.
I completely agree that this is a very disappointing topic, not only in the NFL, but across our nation. I feel that because of the very large spotlight we put on athletes, especially NFL stars such as Ray Rice, this topic is usually avoided as much as possible and pushed to side, if at all possible. I believe that if the video would not have come out to the public that the NFL would not have responded with much more than the two game suspension. Because of this, I think it is very important that more people, such as the two assemblywomen, take action to bring this matter to different judges that better understand the situation. After seeing the video I think that the penalty Ray Rice received from the huge was extremely lighter than what it should have been.
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