from the sports law blog:
Update to NBA Player Arrest Study
In my study on NBA player arrest and age/education, I added an education-level comparison of arrested NBA players to all current NBA players. There are some rather striking results that appear to amplify the study’s findings.Most notably, though 41.1 percent of all NBA players went to college for 4 years, 57.1 percent of arrested NBA players went to college for 4 years. In contrast, though 14.8 percent of all NBA players either did not go to college or went for one year, only 9.6 of arrested NBA players share the same educational background.
Why would college educated NBA players be more likely to be arrested? Why would those who attend for four years be more likely to be arrested than those who didn’t?
One possible explanation is that after four years of suffering from monopsonistic exploitation by the NCAA, the players are less likely to have respect for the law. They see and experience cheating by athletic directors, and they are bombared with bribes.
Another possible explanation: those who go straight to the NBA or who enter the draft early tend to be better players for whom the opportunity costs of being arrested are higher. They have more to lose and less to fall back on. They also have less time to become jaundiced by NCAA exploitation.
