Traumatic Brain Injuries and Violent Crime Offending: A longitudinal study of NFL Players, 1993-2023

Presenter(s)

Jackson Perry

Abstract or Description

A single head trauma can produce persistent anger, irritability, and impulsivity. Football players experience approximately 600 to 1,000 head impacts in one season. For NFL players who begin playing at a young age and completed the league average of 3.5 seasons, this could amount to over 18,000 head impacts throughout their career. Current data on NFL crime rates relies heavily on a USA Today arrest database, which provides limited insight into the association between playing professional football and committing crime. Recent comprehensive research is scarce;  existing literature consists primarily of news articles and limited peer-reviewed studies, with Blumstein and Benedict's (1999) study being the only peer-reviewed research from 26 years ago. Leal et al. (2015) conducted one of the few comparative analyses between NFL arrests and general population crime rates, and discovered that while the general population shows higher rates of property and public order crimes, NFL players demonstrate elevated rates of violent crime. Their study and the USA Today database have become foundational for public understanding of NFL crime rates. However, they acknowledge their work as preliminary research intended to encourage further empirical investigation. This study analyzed data from USA Today's active player arrest records (2000-2023), newspapers.com by Ancestry news articles, and ESPN.com news articles to construct our sample. Our sampling methodology assesses the likelihood of players with a probable history of brain trauma committing reactive violent crimes. Beginning with 1993, the first year of the revised smaller draft, the study population includes 10,571 players through 2023, incorporating both drafted and undrafted rookies who played at least one game in their first season as they become former players. We compared rates of violent crimes as defined by the FBI's Uniform Crime Report, specifically examining arrests for murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault. This research provides a more nuanced examination of how football-related traumatic brain injuries affect aggression, impulsivity, and anger in reactive violent crimes. The impact of brain trauma intensifies with age, making data on former players particularly significant, as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive condition that worsens over time.

Mentor

Dr. Kimberly Kras