Oscar Pistorius. Donte Stallworth. Greg Hardy. Jayson Williams. OJ Simpson. Ray Rice. All these athletes are liberally roaming their mansions as we speak. All these athletes are cashing million dollar paychecks at the bank. According to the Sportster, all these athletes have also committed severe felonies… Ones that have went unpunished.

On May 12, 2014, Nicole Holder received a text from Greg Hardy’s manager asking her and her friend Iwanicki to come hang out at Hardy’s place for the night. Trusting Hardy’s manager, the two women made their way to Hardy’s apartment. As Dead Spin News reported, the group partied that night. Eventually, Nicole found herself alone with Hardy. At first, the couple was getting along just fine. But after Hardy brought up things from the past, tension was generated and a small shove turned into strangling. That night, Nicole Holder was beaten nearly to death.

According to the Charlotte Observer, the case was dropped. Hardy was declared legally innocent. He made a return to the NFL, an even bigger star than before. According to ESPN, the NFL, the Panthers, and the Dallas Cowboys have refused to comment on this.

As I have come to find, the world of competitive sports is one filled with treachery. Domestic abuse is not a topic that is foreign to professional athletes. Some athletes fight the charges and win. Others accepted blame, serve short suspensions, and eventually return to the game. The league refuses to recognize this as a real issue and take complete ownership of its players’ actions. According to USA today, there has been 807 NFL player arrests since the year 2000.

These cases have made appearances all over the United States. Florida State, a school with the second-highest number of athletes guilty of criminal allegations, has had 66 men’s basketball and football athletes arrested. From those incidents, 70 percent of them resulted with athletes being freed of any charges pressed.

Knowing the power of a well-known name and a big paycheck can do is simply troubling. Minor suspensions and lenient probation are not punishments for cases involving abuse with such severity. I hope domestic abuse gains more attention and responsiveness from the general public.