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| Photo via WWLP |
New England Patriots
tight-end Aaron Hernandez was arrested this week and charged with the
Lloyd’s body was discovered
earlier this month in an industrial park near where Hernandez lives. The prosecution is proposing that Hernandez
shot Lloyd after the two had a disagreement about something Lloyd did at a
night club when the two were out together.
murder of Odin Lloyd, a semiprofessional football player and personal friend of
Hernandez. |
| Photo from Creative Commons |
The evidence against
Hernandez is fairly compelling already, and police are still searching. Surveillance footage puts the suspect at the
crime scene, which recorded the sounds of shots shortly after. Lloyd also texted his sister in a suspicious
way to signal who he was with at the time of his death. A casing, gun with Hernandez’ fingerprints
and discarded chewing gum were found near the scene of the crime. The Patriots issued a statement shortly after
the arrest to say that Hernandez was being dropped from the team. He is being held without bail in Attleboro,
Massachusetts.
Aaron Hernandez is
not the first NFL player to be accused of a serious crime. Indeed, a study concluded that one in
five professional football players are arrested for non-traffic offenses at
some point their lifetime. While the
initial data seems striking, further research into the crime rate of NFL
players found that 20% is approximately half the arrest rate for men in general
society in a similar age range. So while
we frequently perceive men in an aggressive profession as ultimately more
aggressive in life, the actual crime rate is significantly lower. This fact likely will not lessen the
inevitable media storm surrounding the Hernandez case and perpetuating the stereotype.
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