In Ray Rice case, where were the prosecutors? Our view

The NFL and the Baltimore Ravens richly deserve the criticism heaped on them for bungling the Ray Rice domestic violence case.

But overshadowed in all the outrage over football's handling of Rice is a more important question: Where were the prosecutors? After all, if Rice were in prison this NFL season, the length of his suspension would have been a non-issue.

Domestic violence cases can, of course, be challenging for prosecutors. Some victims recant. Some, like Rice's wife, Janay, stand by their man. The situation is often "he said she said." But Rice's case was as close to a slam dunk as it gets.

As the nation now knows, a video camera captured Rice punching his then-fiancée Janay Palmer, and then dragging her like a rag doll out of an Atlantic City casino elevator. It would have been pretty tough to find a jury to acquit Rice on a charge of aggravated assault. And pretty easy to drive a hard plea bargain.

Instead, Rice is walking around free — though unemployed as of Monday — after he was accepted in May into a New Jersey "pretrial intervention" program. If he stays clean for a year, the charge could be dismissed, poof, as if the beating never even happened.

Atlantic County prosecutor James McClain said the pretrial intervention "was the appropriate disposition." Perhaps McClain should brush up on New Jersey court rules, which state that if a crime was "deliberately committed with violence," a defendant's application for diversion "should generally be rejected."

This sort of inexplicable laxity describes the handling of too many domestic abuse cases in too many places, which could account for the nation's eye-popping domestic violence statistics. One out of five American women report being victimized by an intimate partner. Of 12,765 murders in 2012, nearly 1,000 were of a wife or girlfriend.

Laura Aceves, 21, was one those victims. She was killed on New Year's Eve 2011 in Arkansas by a boyfriend who had beaten her, strangled her and terrorized her for a year. He was out on bail, under court order to stay away from her, when he shot her in the head, with her four-month-old son by her side.

Some places are trying to prevent such tragedies through a combination of better laws, better training for authorities, and a willingness to work with domestic violence groups. Jurisdictions in about two-thirds of the states are screening domestic violence cases in a process dubbed "lethality assessment."

In Massachusetts, judges hold hearings to determine how much danger a defendant poses, and they can deny bail. Advocates say that has curbed homicides.

How major institutions treat domestic violence sends a message to society. That's where the NFL can play a role. Commissioner Roger Goodell might have more opportunities to demonstrate his seriousness. Carolina Panther Greg Hardy was found guilty of assaulting his former girlfriend, and the San Francisco 49ers' Ray McDonald could be facing a domestic violence charge.

But let's not confuse the NFL's role with that of police, prosecutors and judges. They are the ones on the front lines of the battle to reduce violence.

USA TODAY's editorial opinions are decided by its Editorial Board, separate from the news staff. Most editorials are coupled with an opposing view — a unique USA TODAY feature.