Pro Sports and Crime

[ivanvamp]

The Dez Bryant situation has gotten me thinking about the prevalence of crime in major US professional sports.  Interesting site here:  http://www.vocativ.com/culture/sport/nfl-arrest-rates/
 
Here are the arrest rates (not conviction rates) of each of the four major leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) if you take the actual number of arrests per players in the sport, and project it over a population of 100,000 people:
 
2010
MLB:  147
NFL:  2830
NBA:  2768
NHL:  189
 
2011
MLB:  936
NFL:  2418
NBA:  2913
NHL:  284
 
2012
MLB:  709
NFL:  2229
NBA:  765
NHL:  102
 
2013
MLB:  573
NFL:  2878
NBA:  2190
NHL:  95
 
2014
MLB:  398
NFL:  1974
NBA:  2148
NHL:  205
 
AVERAGE
MLB:  553
NFL:  2466
NBA:  2157
NHL:  175
 
If you look at just domestic abuse figures, here are the four major sports average arrests over that same timeframe projected over a population of 100,000:
 
MLB:  43
NFL:  241
NBA:  413
NHL:  38
 
I think it's worth exploring why the NFL and NBA have significantly higher rates than MLB or the NHL.  It is interesting to note that the NFL actually has a lower arrest rate than the national average for 25-29 year olds (which is a relatively fair comparison given the age demographics of the NFL).  This summer 538 did a story on NFL domestic violence (http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/), and they did this kind of analysis.  Check out this graph:
 

 
So despite having much higher arrest rates than other pro sports, the NFL has *lower* arrest rates compared with their peer group nationally.  One guess why is because of the lack of poverty.  The effective poverty rate among active pro football players is zero, since the minimum salary for an NFL player is over $400,000. 
 
That said, I do wonder why NFL and NBA players tend to commit crimes at a much higher rate than MLB or NHL players.  And if there's anything that can be done about that.

 

[Kevin Youkulele]

The Dez Bryant situation has gotten me thinking about the prevalence of crime in major US professional sports.  Interesting site here:  http://www.vocativ.com/culture/sport/nfl-arrest-rates/
 
Here are the arrest rates (not conviction rates) of each of the four major leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) if you take the actual number of arrests per players in the sport, and project it over a population of 100,000 people:
 
...
 
So despite having much higher arrest rates than other pro sports, the NFL has *lower* arrest rates compared with their peer group nationally.  One guess why is because of the lack of poverty.  The effective poverty rate among active pro football players is zero, since the minimum salary for an NFL player is over $400,000. 
 
That said, I do wonder why NFL and NBA players tend to commit crimes at a much higher rate than MLB or NHL players.  And if there's anything that can be done about that.

You're leaping to a conclusion here.  Not all who commit crime are arrested and not all who are arrested committed a crime.  I think differential racial composition of the player populations might go a long way toward explaining the arrest rate difference.  Whether/how much the racial composition effect itself flows from structural racism is a whole other debate, of course.
 
Edited to abridge quoted material.

 

[ivanvamp]

You're leaping to a conclusion here.  Not all who commit crime are arrested and not all who are arrested committed a crime.  I think differential racial composition of the player populations might go a long way toward explaining the arrest rate difference.  Whether/how much the racial composition effect itself flows from structural racism is a whole other debate, of course.
 
Edited to abridge quoted material.

 
Yes, I meant to say arrests, not crimes committed.  That's why I clarified it before I presented the data.  My bad for mixing them up at the end.  
 
But..... I'd be a large sum of money that the actual crime rate among NBA and NFL players is higher than for MLB and NHL players.  

 

[steveluck7]

Another factor also be that the NFL season is shorter than the other pro sports. Also, during the season, even when a team has a road game, they're likely "home" for 4-5 days of the week as opposed to week (or longer) road trips.
More opportunities to be around friends, spouses, and bad influences.

 

[pappymojo]

What is the crime rate for black men versus white men?  What is the percentage of black men versus white men among players for all four sports? 
 
I don't think it's that big of a secret that black men are more likely to be arrested in America than white men.

 

[Bergs]

Restrict both populations to individuals with at least 2 years of college, and I imagine the story told would be significantly different.

 

[pappymojo]

Restrict both populations to individuals with at least 2 years of college, and I imagine the story told would be significantly different.

I dont know. College football and basketball basically substitute for their minor leagues.

 

[Kevin Youkulele]

I dont know. College football and basketball basically substitute for their minor leagues.

The age range probably skews older for MLB than NFL and NBA because of the longer period in the minors.  This matters.  E.g., for homicide (as of 2010), the rate peaks during ages 20-24 and then drops with increasing age until at least ages 45-49.  See http://www.sagepub.com/upm-data/60294_Chapter_23.pdf at page 382, Fig. 23.1.  (Interestingly, this seems to have changed somewhat since 1940.)
 
I do not follow hockey so I don't know whether their age range is more like MLB or NBA.

 

[brandonchristensen]

How many players are in each respective sport?

 

[MentalDisabldLst]

Only ~2% of men aged 25-29 have a drug-related arrest in an average year?  That's... much lower than I expected actually.

 

[Bergs]

I dont know. College football and basketball basically substitute for their minor leagues.

 
I was referring more to the impact that restriction would have on the US population rates rather than any meaningful impact on the athlete rates.

 

[luckiestman]

I think you need to break down the data by age race and nationality and check it against the population. Also just because people are rich now, poverty in rearing could still matter but I thought the poor athlete thing was becoming more of a myth( at least in the nba).

 

[Devizier]

To me, the only logical conclusion to draw from this is: higher income equals lower arrest rates.
 
That's kind of obvious anyways, but it's worth reiterating. The rest of the data seems awfully noisy.