The Duke Lacrosse Attack: Tragic Story But Not Sports Law

It has not been a good PR week for my alma mater. For the past few days, the story coming out of Durham about a party gone bad keeps getting worse and worse. Deadspin has a good collection of links, as does this blog that is exclusively tracking the story. For those that haven't heard, a group of 40 male students at Duke, most of whom (if not all) are on the lacrosse team, had a party at an off-campus house. They hired some entertainment in the form of two exotic dancers. According to the women, who are black, the all-white crowd chanted racial slurs at them as they performed. The women started to leave the house, but were convinced to return. Then, one woman claims she was beaten and raped in a bathroom by some of the men at the party. Obviously, these are horrendous charges and Duke and the Durham Police are taking appropriate steps to discover what really happened that night. (News & Observer)

As the media continues to run with the story, I keep hearing about how this is a "sports law" case. I could not disagree more. This is a case about a few men, who happen to be athletes, that may have committed an inexcusable crime against another human being. The athletes also happen to have been in a big group (perhaps leading to a mob mentality) and even more importantly, were undoubtedly drunk. The fact that they happen to play a sport (lacrosse) does not make this "sports law."

In fact, one of the purposes of this blog is to get away from the idea that "sports law" is about athletes committing crimes. "Sports law" is about how sports affect the development of law, and how the law impacts the games we play and watch. Sports don't cause athletes to break the law. Of course, some athletes commit crimes. There have even been some studies that suggest that male athletes, especially those that play "helmet sports," may commit more violent crimes than the average male. But there are approximately 200,000 sexual assaults and rapes in the United States each year (and that number may be low due to incidents that are not reported). I don't see a lot of stories about rapes by football players, hockey players and lacrosse players -- and these incidents are far more likely to be reported than an average sex crime. If you want to blame something other than the men themselves, I would point to alcohol before I looked to lacrosse. Or the group setting. Or the fact that they are in college, when approximately five percent of college females will be the victim of rape or attempted rape in a given year. But if this story is true, the blame should fall squarely on the men that committed these reprehensible acts.

Lacrosse (along with football, hockey, etc) is a violent sport. But the reputation of the sport may go too far in finding links where none exist. The overwhelming majority of athletes can leave their aggression where it belongs -- on the field, just as the overwhelming majority of people can drink responsibly, have a party and even hire adult entertainment without committing a felony. To link this incident to lacrosse is to shield those who deserve to be vilified. And if you don't see a connection with the sport, then there is really nothing that makes this "sports law."

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