After weeks of increased criticism, the NFL is taking a hard-line stance against domestic violence. A stance that could see violators banned forever.
Thursday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell sent a letter to team owners detailing the league’s new policy on domestic abuse. Something he says they’ve fallen short on in the past.
For the first offense: there’s a minimum 6-game suspension without pay. The league will take into account mitigating factors, as well as aggravating ones, like whether they’ve had a history of violence, how severe the incident was, and if children or pregnant women are involved. But a second incident is where it gets really severe: lifetime banishment from the league. They can petition for re-entry after one year, but there’s no guarantee the league will even entertain it.
Most of the heat on this stems from the Ray Rice situation. A video shows him dragging his then-fiance, now-wife, out of an elevator after knocking her out because she spit on him during an argument. For that, he got a 2-game suspension, and Goddell took a lot of criticism.
We also have a related story happening right here in Charlotte. Panther Greg Hardy is appealing his conviction of beating and threatening his ex-girlfriend. That case won’t be over until after the upcoming season. Whatever the outcome, it’s unclear whether his case would be exempt from the new policy since it started before the rules took effect. We’ll just have to wait and see.
But that brings us back to the new policy in place by the NFL. Does it address the problem of domestic violence appropriately? Our Man on the Edge, Robert Wilder, hit the streets to see what some of you think…
