What's Wrong With Our Justice System?

Lately, we are seeing a lot of people that should be inspirational role models become nothing but criminals:  Ray Rice, Running Back for the Ravens, beat his wife to the point of unconsciousness; Oscar Pistorius, the first Olympic double Amputee to win a medal, killed his girlfriend by shooting her when she got up to go to the restroom that night; Michael Vick, probably one of the greatest Quarter Backs the Falcons ever had, was using his dogs to dog fight and killing the weaker ones … then I look at the ones we convicted and the ones that got off.  These were just 3 of the many.  Then I ask, what is wrong with our justice system?

Has our society really gotten to the point that we value our games more than moral values?  We have high schools that are breaking not only the school rules but also laws in order to build the best teams out there … but what are we teaching our kids?  Isn’t the more valuable lesson to teach going to be to our next generation?  If we teach them that this person or that person shouldn’t be convicted for his crimes because he is so good at what he does, what is he going to take into his adult career with him and in what way should we expect him to treat such crimes?  In what way will this help us to grow past our history and become a better nation?  The generations that we are bringing up are the ones that will one day lead this nation and vote on the political realm to make the laws and amendments, why would we want to affect them in this way?  We owe them more than that.  We owe ourselves more than that. 

The other day, my son and I was discussing Ray Rice and what should be done about his crime (and yes, it was a crime); my son said “they can’t do too much to him because he is too good of a running back to do much to him” … “WHAT”.  I couldn’t believe my ears.  Much less, I couldn’t believe someone I raised honestly believed that this guy shouldn’t be punished.  That is what we are teaching our next generation people.  I have always taught both my boys that I better never hear that they hit their girlfriends or wives because this woman would beat them when I did hear about it.  It is never alright to beat a woman.  My son went on to explain that at the end of the day, the NFL was a big money corporation and they had to keep the money coming in and they couldn’t do that by getting rid of someone as good as Rice.  I feel that we can always give another college student the chance to take his place that won’t beat women … we don’t need wife beaters and people that can’t control their temper as our football players. 

Now, in the Rice situation, I truly believed they done the right thing.  But let’s say for argument sake that they went with my son’s opinion, exactly where should we draw the line at what was “ok” and what was not?  This guy obviously has a temper problem, so when he got upset with his manager or other bosses, would it then be alright for him to beat them?  I mean, he was mad with his fiancé, so he was given permission to beat her … why should any of his other superiors be any different?  After all, they are the ones that write his checks and decided that it was ok to beat his fiancé.  We done exactly what we needed to, we drew the line at the beginning.  If we nip it in the bud, we won’t have any repercussions from it.  My son is still in the belief that he is going to be able to overcome this … I truly hope that the NFL teaches my son a lesson that I will never be able to.