The NFL has taken a lot of criticism over the years and a good portion of that criticism has been directed towards their punishments of players who have treated women wrong.
Whether that’s domestic violence or sexual misconduct/assault, it seems like the NFL has made the wrong decisions when coming up with punishments. Most notably last season when they suspended Deshaun Watson for 11 games after he was accused of sexual misconduct more than 20 times.
Lots of people felt it should have been more.
Now, a year later, the NFL has revised their rules and has expanded the sexual misconduct policy according to The NY Times.
The new policy now includes:
Sexual assault “involving threats or coercion,” and included a “pattern of conduct” and “offenses that involve planning” as factors that can lead to more serious penalties.
The new policy now includes sexual assault “involving threats or coercion” to the list of offenses that carry stricter punishment. A second violation, per the report, will result in banishment from the NFL. The revised policy also gives power to a third-party investigator to impose stricter penalties on players “for other types of prohibited conduct.”
This is a tiny step forward and the NFL seems like they’re trying to be more proactive instead of reactive.