Crime and Punishment and Football

Of the myriad of things you think are going to matter when facing criminal charges, you wouldn’t think the success or failure of the local football team would scratch the top ten. And you’d be wrong. Researched from Louisiana State University recently found that an LSU loss resulted in substantially longer sentences in juvenile court. And if LSU was ranked at the top of the polls and lost unexpectedly? It was even worse for the juveniles.

It’s a given, of course, that this isn’t even a little bit fair. But whoever said life was fair was also probably trying to sell you something.

But shouldn’t we be making efforts to ensure that life is as fair as we can humanly make it? And if so, how?

I’m certain that if you were to ask the judges who were the subject of the study if they thought that football had any bearing on their courtroom decisions they would wave you off as a crackpot. No one would consciously do such a thing. But sub-consciously is another story.

So what do you do? What if you are facing drug charges in Court the day after a major football loss? How do you minimize the impact of something so unrelated to your charges without accusing the judge of some kind of bias that you would never be able to prove?

Of course, one of the first things you should do when you are arrested for a crime is get a lawyer. Whether you get a public defender, or hire a private criminal lawyer it is important to get a lawyer who knows the system and the judges involved. Familiarity helps read the situation. Knowing the judge’s particular quirks (and football loyalties) can make a difference – rightly or wrongly, the LSU study proves this to be true.

Another thing to do is to engage in plea negotiations or some other sort of cooperation deal. If you have negotiated ahead of time what will happen in your case, then you don’t have to worry about the discretion of the judge. Pleading to a lesser included offense or agreeing to testify in exchange for a lesser sentence may very well be in your best interest. That’s something to talk to your lawyer about.

In any event, it all seems so crazy. Implicit and covert biases in race and gender have been talked about for some time. Now must we add sports to the mix? Does it vary by region? For example, would North Carolina judges be more apt to have their sentences affected by college basketball? Is there a difference in NY between Yankee-loss sentencing and Mets-loss sentencing?

Those are questions for a grad student looking for a thesis to answer. In the meantime, to help my clients, I’ll be making sure I’m aware of all the major sporting events going on at the time of trial.