We live in an era where world famous athletes are put on
pedestals above the average citizen because of success in their sport. Almost
everyday you hear stories about athletes getting in trouble with the law for a
variety of issues. Is the frequencies of this in result of athletes thinking
they’re above the law? Does the government treat these athletes the same as any
other citizen, regardless of social status? Let’s dive in and come to the
bottom of this once and for all.
Just this week England winger and Sunderland player Adam
Johnson was released on bail following his arrest on suspicion of sexual
activity with a girl under the age of 16. Although the Premier League club
suspended Johnson on Monday after learning he had been taken into custody, just
a day later he was released on bail. Seems pretty quick for something as
serious as potential rape. As a successful footballer, you have to wonder if
this is part of the equation.
Although this example was as recent as this week, two
precedents that were very similar are the cases of Ribery and Benzema and Ched
Evans. Just last year footballers Frank Ribery, forward from Bayern Munich, and
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, faced three years in prison if found quality
of having sexual relations with Zahia Dehar when she was 18 years old. Robery
claimed he didn’t know the age of this woman and Benzema denied claims they
spent the night together in Paris. Although it sounds like the incident
happened which would be consider rape as this Algerian woman was underage, the
judge at the court in Paris ruled there wasn’t enough proof that the pair was
aware of Dehar’s age at the time.
Lastly, there’s the messy situation of footballer Ched
Evans. Three years ago in April 2012 the Sheffield United player was convicted
of rape, of a 19-year-old woman and was sent to jail. He admitted to having sex
with the woman but said it was consensual. On October 17th 2014
after serving half of his term, Sheffield launched a fresh bid to have his
conviction overturned by asking the Criminal Cases Review Commission to examine
his case. He was released.
All of these examples share the fact that these footballers
were released after being accused for rape. While we don’t know exactly what
happened in every situation, it seems all too frequent that athletes are
released of their charges for some reason or another… Would it be the same for
some average Joe who maybe wasn’t well off? We need to ask ourselves if we
should let the government put any individual above the law.
You tell me, what do you think about these cases and do you
think justice was served? What roles could have played into the judges
decision? Is there a double standard when it comes to athletes/celebrities?
It is hard to really know how much the result of these cases is affected by the celebrity status of athletes and celebrities, especially because we don't know the full facts in each case. Still, it's hard not to think that this really does have an effect on the leniency of their cases. It feels as if they can leverage connections and also use money to avoid full penalization from the law system. So, though I do think there is a double standard, I can't commit fully to the idea without first having learned more exact facts on each case.
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