Athlete in Sex Assault Case Let Off. Why Does That Sound So Familiar?

The Sacramento Bee is reporting that a sexaul assault case against Sacramento Kings basketball player Justin Williams will not be prosecuted.

Why doesn't this story surprise me?

Maybe because it is so familiar. For example, CA NOW protested the Santa Clara County District Attorney's decision not to prosecute a case where student athletes at De Anza College were accused of gang raping a highly intoxicated 17-year-old girl.

The Justin Williams case is a typical story: athlete meets young woman at party and brings her back to his house; she has one drink and feels woozy; she reports to police the next day that the athlete sexually assaulted her; athlete denies it; DA says there is not enough evidence and drops the case.

This pattern is disturbing. We are either to believe that there is an epidemic of women out there making false accusations against athletes, which statistics show is rarely the case, or that athletes have a higher rate of being perpetrators of sexual crimes.

The fact is, college athletes make up 11% of the student population, and commit 19% of sexual assaults and 35% of domestic/dating violence reports. USA Today research of 168 sexual assault allegations against professional and NCAA division I football and basketball athletes in the past dozen years suggests sports figures fare better at trial than defendants from the general population. Of those 168 allegations, only 22 cases went to trial and only six cases resulted in convictions.

Among the general population, the rate of conviction for sexual assault is much higher. A Department of Justice report tracked rape charges in the nation's 75 largest counties and found 52% of the defendants in 586 cases were convicted of rape and 14% were convicted of some other crime, either at trial or through pleas.

What is it in our society that tolerates acceptance of, and therefore condones, sexual violence by athletes? Do we value sport stars and winning ball games more than we value women's freedom and safety?

Comments

[mmminteresting]

I bet if Justin Williams had beat a dog instead, people would be out protesting in the streets and the news would be all over it.

[xJane]

"We are either to believe that there is an epidemic of women out there making false accusations against athletes, which statistics show is rarely the case, or that athletes have a higher rate of being perpetrators of sexual crimes."

I think there's an option that you missed, which may be closer to the truth: that athletes are more often let off the hook for sexual crimes and that their status as athletes causes them to be more noticed.

If the De Anza event were of the history club, rather than an athletic club, the result may well have been the same: that the DA believes the men in question rather than the woman. But it probably would not have gotten the press.

Your point still stands: why do we accept this behavior? I have no answer.