Why Didn’t the NFL Believe Molly Brown?

Kicker Josh Brown of the New York Giants reportedly abused his ex-wife in multiple cities over many years.  Molly Brown told New York police that Brown had assaulted her more than 20 times, beginning during her pregnancy in 2009.  According to ESPN, Molly Brown called police in nearly every city in which the couple lived.  In 2013, Molly Brown obtained a protective order against her husband, based on threats to kill her.  In 2015, Josh Brown allegedly pushed his wife into a mirror, threw her on the floor, jumped on top of her, kicked a door into her son, and kicked a chair into her.  Josh Brown was arrested for the 2015 incident.  In response, the NFL suspended Brown for one game.

The outcry following that decision is attributable in part to the NFL’s many heartfelt public declarations that it will not stand idly by while its players commit acts of violence.  Following an incident in which Ray Rice punched his then-fiancé unconscious, the NFL beefed up its personal conduct policy.  The policy states that if a player is found guilty of a criminal charge or if the NFL determines that the person engaged in prohibited conduct (like, one would imagine, repeatedly assaulting your wife), the NFL can discipline the player.  Domestic violence violations “will result in a baseline six-game suspension without pay, with more if aggravating factors are present, such as the use of a weapon or a crime against a child.”  Given that Molly Brown most recently called police out of concern for her son, and that the abuse began while she was pregnant, there seems to be enough information to trigger the six-game suspension, if not more.  So why just a one month suspension?

Because there was no criminal conviction.  The NFL, after a ten month investigation, stated that the failure to pursue criminal charges and the lack of law enforcement cooperation made it impossible for them to “corroborate prior allegations.”  Despite the 2013 protective order and the transcript of Molly Brown’s interview with police (obtained by the New York Daily News, so certainly available to the NFL) the failure to secure a conviction seems to have given the NFL cover for its decision to disregard its personnel policy.

The NFL’s obsession with a criminal conviction is hardly surprising given that criminalization is the primary response to domestic violence in the United States.  Through the Violence Against Women Act, the U.S. has poured millions of dollars into police, prosecutors and courts, at the expense of other services and supports for people subjected to abuse.  And when that system declines to act, for whatever reason (insufficient investigation, prosecutorial concerns about the strength of the evidence, the victim’s unwillingness to testify), the assumption is that the violence simply didn’t happen—even in the face of persuasive evidence, as in Molly Brown’s case, that it did.

The overreliance on criminalization is problematic.  Domestic violence is an underreported crime.  Some victims of violence choose not to cooperate with the criminal legal system in order to avoid the trauma of testifying or the risks of exposure to state agents.  Undocumented women fear deportation if they call the police.  Violence by police officers against women of color and transgender women who call for assistance with domestic violence is depressingly common.  Monies dedicated to the criminal legal system are not available for victims’ other, arguably more pressing, needs: housing, economic assistance, civil legal services.  Criminalization of domestic violence is one facet of the larger problem of mass incarceration in the United States.  Increased criminalization has had little to no deterrent effect on rates of domestic violence in the United States, but has contributed to the over-incarceration of men of color.  The belief that criminalization is effective has stifled the search for other, potentially more promising, responses to domestic violence.

There is substantial evidence that Josh Brown repeatedly abused his wife over a significant period of time.  The NFL could take a strong stand against such violence and punish Josh Brown pursuant to the player personnel policy.  Relying on the lack of a conviction to justify light punishment both ignores the reality that the criminal legal system is not always effective against domestic violence and retrenches the notion that if there is no conviction, the violence didn’t happen.  Through its minimal suspension of Josh Brown, the NFL is sending both the partners of its players and the larger community a clear—but the wrong–message.