Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

I'd like to see the NCAA address this. But of course they won't. Sounds like a lot of these college towns would be a lot safer if those schools didn't have football and basketball. If I'm interpreting the stats right, 24% of the crimes in Gainesville were Florida athletes and 18% in Tallahassee.

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

I wonder why Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State were excluded along with all of the programs of the ACC with the exception of Notre Dame? I know of 6 programs in that grouping I listed that would have had some explaining to do.

(06-14-2015 04:01 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

I wonder why Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State were excluded along with all of the programs of the ACC with the exception of Notre Dame? I know of 6 programs in that grouping I listed that would have had some explaining to do.

Florida State is still in the ACC, notwithstanding the "projections" of many posters on this message board.

(06-14-2015 04:03 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 04:01 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

I wonder why Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State were excluded along with all of the programs of the ACC with the exception of Notre Dame? I know of 6 programs in that grouping I listed that would have had some explaining to do.

Florida State is still in the ACC, notwithstanding the "projections" of many posters on this message board.

They were so obvious after the Winston mess I didn't even consider them as being out of place here. The whole Research Triangle would have been easy to research because of the limited number of police departments involved. Clemson, Miami (hello), and Louisville (with their recent penchant for taking discipline problems from other schools) would all have been in order.

What I sniff here is ESPN's pandering to their sweethearts: Alabama, Texas, Kansas, Oregon, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State while hitting on virtually all of their rivals. Auburn, A&M, Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Oregon State, Wisconsin, Missouri, and I would classify N.D. & F.S.U. as being a rival to many things in Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill. Really only Florida stands alone as one who has been a darling, but then the Hernandez stench attaches itself to the Gators, but remarkably not to his former head coach, Urban Meyer.

Weve all noticed several incidents in tuscaloosa involving athletes has been dropped. After the accuser changed her mind about what actually happened.

(06-14-2015 04:17 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 04:03 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 04:01 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

I wonder why Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State were excluded along with all of the programs of the ACC with the exception of Notre Dame? I know of 6 programs in that grouping I listed that would have had some explaining to do.

Florida State is still in the ACC, notwithstanding the "projections" of many posters on this message board.

They were so obvious after the Winston mess I didn't even consider them as being out of place here. The whole Research Triangle would have been easy to research because of the limited number of police departments involved. Clemson, Miami (hello), and Louisville (with their recent penchant for taking discipline problems from other schools) would all have been in order.

What I sniff here is ESPN's pandering to their sweethearts: Alabama, Texas, Kansas, Oregon, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State while hitting on virtually all of their rivals. Auburn, A&M, Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Oregon State, Wisconsin, Missouri, and I would classify N.D. & F.S.U. as being a rival to many things in Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill. Really only Florida stands alone as one who has been a darling, but then the Hernandez stench attaches itself to the Gators, but remarkably not to his former head coach, Urban Meyer.

Oklahoma St., Notre Dame, Missouri and FSU have all had high profile incidents. Pretty obvious why they were included. And of course, Auburn and A&M have always been high on the major violation list. And with Cam Newton, Nick Marshall and Johnny Manziel they made even more obvious targets. 2 people who got kicked out of other programs and 1 person who always made a lot of negative news.
Florida is known for being pretty lenient on their drug policy.

Not sure why Oregon St., Michigan St. and Wisconsin made the list, but they may have had some high profile incidents I hadn't heard about.

(06-14-2015 05:38 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 04:17 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 04:03 PM)Wedge Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 04:01 PM)JRsec Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

I wonder why Alabama, Texas, Oklahoma, Penn State, Michigan and Ohio State were excluded along with all of the programs of the ACC with the exception of Notre Dame? I know of 6 programs in that grouping I listed that would have had some explaining to do.

Florida State is still in the ACC, notwithstanding the "projections" of many posters on this message board.

They were so obvious after the Winston mess I didn't even consider them as being out of place here. The whole Research Triangle would have been easy to research because of the limited number of police departments involved. Clemson, Miami (hello), and Louisville (with their recent penchant for taking discipline problems from other schools) would all have been in order.

What I sniff here is ESPN's pandering to their sweethearts: Alabama, Texas, Kansas, Oregon, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State while hitting on virtually all of their rivals. Auburn, A&M, Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Oregon State, Wisconsin, Missouri, and I would classify N.D. & F.S.U. as being a rival to many things in Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill. Really only Florida stands alone as one who has been a darling, but then the Hernandez stench attaches itself to the Gators, but remarkably not to his former head coach, Urban Meyer.

Oklahoma St., Notre Dame, Missouri and FSU have all had high profile incidents. Pretty obvious why they were included. And of course, Auburn and A&M have always been high on the major violation list. And with Cam Newton, Nick Marshall and Johnny Manziel they made even more obvious targets. 2 people who got kicked out of other programs and 1 person who always made a lot of negative news.
Florida is known for being pretty lenient on their drug policy.

Not sure why Oregon St., Michigan St. and Wisconsin made the list, but they may have had some high profile incidents I hadn't heard about.

Nice try. Alabama, Penn State, and Ohio State have all had incidents and history as well, as has U.S.C.. While not football problems in particular there are many things overlooked at the basketball schools as well. It was clearly a biased lineup. I guess Texas gets a pass since the sexual issues there were among the members of the athletic department huh?

LSU with that Honey Badger dude a few years back as well. Caught with drugs, fighting in a parking lot assaulting another person and so forth. Charges seems to have been dropped. Even TCU had a bad person with Casey Pachall and his drug habits.

Missouri booted that one guy off the team a year ago because he pushed a woman down the stairs. Oklahoma tried to get him on the team last year, but the NCAA denied the waiver.

That is the problem right now with the big name schools who will turn a blind eye so that they can win.

Look at what Montana did? They booted the star QB from the school because he was accused of rape, arrested and had a trial. It was not fair that he went through all that and FSU's Winston did not.

(06-14-2015 03:58 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

I'd like to see the NCAA address this. But of course they won't. Sounds like a lot of these college towns would be a lot safer if those schools didn't have football and basketball. If I'm interpreting the stats right, 24% of the crimes in Gainesville were Florida athletes and 18% in Tallahassee.

I can assure the percentage of crimes in Tallahassee committed by FSU athletes are FAR fewer than roughtly 1/5 of ALL crimes. I mean, simple common sense tells you that number is pure crap. There are well over 200,000 people in Tallahasse when class and the legislature are in session, but you (or the "reporter/journalist") believe the ~500 student athletes at FSU are responsible for 20% of all crimes? LMAO.

Also, Florida has some of the most open FOIA laws in the country, so this information is much more easily accessible than in other states and from other universities. The "author" of this article even admitted as much on Twitter, stating some schools/states tried to wait them out by ignoring their request. These requests were made back in the fall of 2014, in case the article doesn't state that (I didn't read the article and won't). I also read that some schools, like Auburn, are policed by the city police, and therefore made it almost impossible to decipher between student (and student-athlete) and non-student crimes.

But we all know athletes get off of some crimes more easily than non-athletes and most of us don't actually mind. They are more of a face of the university than an average student and they have better representation. It only makes sense. As long as someone isn't getting away with literal (attempted murder) murder or some type of violent crime, who cares? I don't think ANYBODY should be arrested for marijuana, alcohol, barking at a police dog, stealing a taco, stealing crab legs, shooting squirrels with bb guns, etc. That's a waste of taxpayer money. DUI, shooting guns into an apartment complex, throwing kegs at students at a party, shooting at multiple people inside of a stopped vehicle, etc., should all face legitimate investigations and prosecution, however.

I don't think that's an NCAA issue, however, but more of a city/county/state issue.

The Powers That Be - if they really exist in this sphere - need to be careful to not completely destroy their bread and circuses. People could start to really lose faith in their product (all of FBS) with so many things now coming to light.

The "tricks of the trade" used by so many schools are no longer going unpunished. The internet has increased revenue at the expense of removing the cone of silence. The moment people believe that CFB isn't what it's being sold as is the exact moment where some of them turn their head and pay attention to REAL issues.

Tread lightly, ESPN. Tread very lightly.

(06-15-2015 04:48 AM)Marge Schott Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 03:58 PM)bullet Wrote:  

(06-14-2015 03:34 PM)Wedge Wrote:  Lawyers, status, public backlash aid college athletes accused of crimes

Quote:As a University of Florida running back, Chris Rainey was named a suspect in five crimes in Gainesville. He faced charges once.

Rainey's experience as a star athlete accused of criminal activity -- stalking, fighting, injuring someone with fireworks -- but ending up with a mostly clean record is not uncommon: From 2009 to 2014, male basketball and football players at the University of Florida and Florida State University avoided criminal charges or prosecution on average two-thirds of the time when named as suspects in police documents, a result far exceeding that of non-athlete males in the same age range, an Outside the Lines investigation has found.

Last fall, to determine how often crimes involving college athletes are prosecuted and what factors influence them, Outside the Lines requested police reports involving all football and men's basketball players on rosters from 2009 to 2014 from campus and city police departments covering 10 major programs: Auburn, Florida, Florida State, Michigan State, Missouri, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, Texas A&M and Wisconsin. Some police departments withheld records citing state disclosure laws. (ESPN sued the University of Notre Dame and Michigan State University for not releasing material; both cases are pending on appeal.) And not all information was uniform among jurisdictions.

I'd like to see the NCAA address this. But of course they won't. Sounds like a lot of these college towns would be a lot safer if those schools didn't have football and basketball. If I'm interpreting the stats right, 24% of the crimes in Gainesville were Florida athletes and 18% in Tallahassee.

I can assure the percentage of crimes in Tallahassee committed by FSU athletes are FAR fewer than roughtly 1/5 of ALL crimes. I mean, simple common sense tells you that number is pure crap. There are well over 200,000 people in Tallahasse when class and the legislature are in session, but you (or the "reporter/journalist") believe the ~500 student athletes at FSU are responsible for 20% of all crimes? LMAO.

Also, Florida has some of the most open FOIA laws in the country, so this information is much more easily accessible than in other states and from other universities. The "author" of this article even admitted as much on Twitter, stating some schools/states tried to wait them out by ignoring their request. These requests were made back in the fall of 2014, in case the article doesn't state that (I didn't read the article and won't). I also read that some schools, like Auburn, are policed by the city police, and therefore made it almost impossible to decipher between student (and student-athlete) and non-student crimes.

But we all know athletes get off of some crimes more easily than non-athletes and most of us don't actually mind. They are more of a face of the university than an average student and they have better representation. It only makes sense. As long as someone isn't getting away with literal (attempted murder) murder or some type of violent crime, who cares? I don't think ANYBODY should be arrested for marijuana, alcohol, barking at a police dog, stealing a taco, stealing crab legs, shooting squirrels with bb guns, etc. That's a waste of taxpayer money. DUI, shooting guns into an apartment complex, throwing kegs at students at a party, shooting at multiple people inside of a stopped vehicle, etc., should all face legitimate investigations and prosecution, however.

I don't think that's an NCAA issue, however, but more of a city/county/state issue.

Sounds like a true fan of the Criminoles.

From my sister who used to work at FSU, most people down there are getting pretty tired and embarrassed about the antics. At least the ones who actually went to FSU.

I guess if someone steals your car out of your driveway at night, no one should be prosecuted. As long as they don't try to kill you when they do it.

SEC has implemented a policy preventing a transfer of someone "who has been subject to official university or athletics department disciplinary action" for "sexual assault, domestic violence or other forms of sexual violence."

Saban didn't like the rule. He thinks players should be given a second chance. Personally, if I was president of Alabama, I would tell him to pay attention to coaching and leave university policy to presidents. Those people have plenty of opportunities to play at Division II or FCS schools. They shouldn't be in the highest profile departments. There's plenty of other players that don't commit crimes while on scholarship.

(06-15-2015 08:56 AM)bullet Wrote:  SEC has implemented a policy preventing a transfer of someone "who has been subject to official university or athletics department disciplinary action" for "sexual assault, domestic violence or other forms of sexual violence."

Saban didn't like the rule. He thinks players should be given a second chance. Personally, if I was president of Alabama, I would tell him to pay attention to coaching and leave university policy to presidents. Those people have plenty of opportunities to play at Division II or FCS schools. They shouldn't be in the highest profile departments. There's plenty of other players that don't commit crimes while on scholarship.

They are not welcome at those levels either.

My brother-in-law, and my wife, both got their degrees at Kentucky. And both experienced their tests being taken by a basketball player, who copied them with the teacher watching, and nothing was done. If they allow the little crimes, the big crimes aren't far behind.

(06-15-2015 09:26 AM)DavidSt Wrote:  

(06-15-2015 08:56 AM)bullet Wrote:  SEC has implemented a policy preventing a transfer of someone "who has been subject to official university or athletics department disciplinary action" for "sexual assault, domestic violence or other forms of sexual violence."

Saban didn't like the rule. He thinks players should be given a second chance. Personally, if I was president of Alabama, I would tell him to pay attention to coaching and leave university policy to presidents. Those people have plenty of opportunities to play at Division II or FCS schools. They shouldn't be in the highest profile departments. There's plenty of other players that don't commit crimes while on scholarship.

They are not welcome at those levels either.

Yes they are.

They're welcomed at many schools on any level uat loves others thug rejects.

(06-15-2015 06:01 PM)cleburneslim Wrote:  They're welcomed at many schools on any level uat loves others thug rejects.

Yup, one of those won us a national cha...

Wait, that wasn't us.

(06-15-2015 07:46 AM)oliveandblue Wrote:  The Powers That Be - if they really exist in this sphere - need to be careful to not completely destroy their bread and circuses. People could start to really lose faith in their product (all of FBS) with so many things now coming to light.

The "tricks of the trade" used by so many schools are no longer going unpunished. The internet has increased revenue at the expense of removing the cone of silence. The moment people believe that CFB isn't what it's being sold as is the exact moment where some of them turn their head and pay attention to REAL issues.

Tread lightly, ESPN. Tread very lightly.

Miami, Florida is almost dead in football. I think people got tired of all the criminals running rampant there. Miami is the worst offender of all of the schools. Florida State and Florida is getting up there as well.

Florida Gators = Aaron Hernandez
Aaron was ole Urban's boy.