Law enforcement/courts should have handled the Ray Rice case
To the editor:
Let me say, before everyone starts sending angry responses, that I think what Ray Rice did to his then girlfriend was despicable. There can be no justification for that. That said, when did we start bypassing the justice system and begin requiring employers to dole out penalties to employees who break the rule of law?
The NFL is not a duly authorized law enforcement officer or an elected public prosecutor. Had those that are such done their job, Ray Rice would have been arrested, tried and sentenced to jail. That alone would have ended his weekly romps up and down the gridiron and most likely saw his multi-million dollar contract collapse like a left hook to his own jaw.
The fact that his then girlfriend and current wife did not press charges, although certainly a mistake on her part, can be more easily understood than the fact that the entire country is far more upset that executives of a professional sports conglomerate did not get it right when local law enforcement did nothing at all. What’s next? At what level of income or fame do we circumvent law enforcement all together and let employers determine the punishment to an offending athlete or other personality?
Do I think Ray Rice is a poor role model for any number of reasons? Yes, I do. Do I think he should lose the privilege and massive income from his sports career? Yes! But it should have occurred because he was in prison.
I, for one, don’t want any executive of any corporation, regardless of how influential or well educated they may be, to be deciding what penalty should be assessed against a suspected criminal whether they are an employee or not. I want our paid law enforcement to do their job. Corporate America is everywhere else, they have no place in the justice system and I doubt very much if they want one.
T. Brown
Matlacha