“Before they were too harsh, and now in a way they are not harsh enough, but it’s a better process that doesn’t question the integrity of the commissioner and the coalition,” said Bob Boland, who leads the coalition. ) Say. Sports Law course at Seton Hall University. “The fact that the results were unsatisfactory is unfortunate.”
While the new process appears to be working as intended, excluding Goodell from the fact review and initial penalty, the league’s policy appears to be a work in progress. LeRoy points to the opening remarks of Robinson’s conclusion: “The NFL may be a ‘forward-looking’ organization, but it’s not necessarily a forward-looking organization,” suggesting that the NFL has received a lot of scrutiny but is mostly reactive to discipline.
After being criticized for its handling of a case involving former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, who was initially suspended for two games in 2014 after beating his fiancé in a hotel elevator, the NFL rewrote its personal conduct policy to set Six unpaid suspensions for first-time offenders of specific violations: criminal assault or battery, all forms of domestic violence, and sexual assault involving force or against a person who cannot consent.
In Robinson’s report, she concluded that Watson’s actions toward massage therapists were not violent, according to the NFL’s definition of the term. As a result, she said, the discipline she could exert was limited. Robinson wrote that while tougher disciplinary action against players who the NFL defines as nonviolent sex may be “perfectly appropriate,” she doesn’t think it’s fair given the league’s current standards.
Juan Carlos Areán, program director at the nonprofit Futures Without Violence, said he did not believe a six-game suspension without any requests for counseling or intervention would be enough to prevent or correct Watson’s alleged conduct. Because violence against women can take many forms, Areán said policies should be developed on a case-by-case basis to give freedom to those issuing discipline.
“We know that when sexual assault happens, you don’t have to use force, and it’s hard to prove that force was used,” he said. “We also know that other types of assault, emotional abuse and things like that, can have very detrimental effects on victims. These are very complex issues and you can’t just clearly quantify, ‘Well, this is worse than this’ Much more.'”
