Did Iowa Wait Too Long? (Follow-Up To 2/3 Column)
As the facts continue to come out, it looks more and more like the University of Iowa athletic department not only didn't jump the gun by kicking Pierre Pierce off the team, they may have actually waited too long.
Yesterday, the Hawkeyes leading scorer was charged with six crimes stemming from an incident at his former girlfriend's apartment on the night of January 27th. According to the Des Moines Register, police say a fight "turned into a night of assault, vandalism, intimidation and sexual threat." If convicted on all accounts, Pierce faces up to 32 years in prison. The most serious crime is first-degree felony burglary.
It's always easy to second guess after something like this takes place, but as time continues to pass, it continues to look like Pierce had no business being on the Hawkeyes team to begin the season. In 2002, he was charged with third-degree sexual abuse. He pled guilty to assault causing injury, served a year of probation and worked 200 hours of community service. He was allowed to stay in school because he received a deferred judgment.
I can see letting him stay in school. The best way to help someone get away from a life of crime is to educate him, to give him opportunity to become something more so he doesn't feel the need to be a criminal. But letting him stay on the basketball team wasn't going to help anything, with the possible exception of the Hawkeye basketball team.
Letting someone with criminal tendencies remain in that kind of an environment--where he is praised by thousands, allowed to get away with things average students couldn't and generally made to feel superior over others--only enhances his predisposition to crime. Although Pierce obviously needs to be held responsible for his actions, the university should feel a certain degree of guilt. They set Pierce up for this latest crime spree by allowing him to remain on the basketball team. No one is guilty but Pierce, but it may not have happened if he had been kicked off two years ago.
Yesterday, the Hawkeyes leading scorer was charged with six crimes stemming from an incident at his former girlfriend's apartment on the night of January 27th. According to the Des Moines Register, police say a fight "turned into a night of assault, vandalism, intimidation and sexual threat." If convicted on all accounts, Pierce faces up to 32 years in prison. The most serious crime is first-degree felony burglary.
It's always easy to second guess after something like this takes place, but as time continues to pass, it continues to look like Pierce had no business being on the Hawkeyes team to begin the season. In 2002, he was charged with third-degree sexual abuse. He pled guilty to assault causing injury, served a year of probation and worked 200 hours of community service. He was allowed to stay in school because he received a deferred judgment.
I can see letting him stay in school. The best way to help someone get away from a life of crime is to educate him, to give him opportunity to become something more so he doesn't feel the need to be a criminal. But letting him stay on the basketball team wasn't going to help anything, with the possible exception of the Hawkeye basketball team.
Letting someone with criminal tendencies remain in that kind of an environment--where he is praised by thousands, allowed to get away with things average students couldn't and generally made to feel superior over others--only enhances his predisposition to crime. Although Pierce obviously needs to be held responsible for his actions, the university should feel a certain degree of guilt. They set Pierce up for this latest crime spree by allowing him to remain on the basketball team. No one is guilty but Pierce, but it may not have happened if he had been kicked off two years ago.
posted by Joe Siple | 10:24 AM
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