Ched Evans: Should Celebrities be punished twice for the same Offence?

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Ched Evans
Ched Evans was convicted in April 2012 by a jury at Caernarfon Crown Court for raping a 19 year old woman in a hotel near Rhyl, Denbighshire.  The jury disregarded his defense of consensual sex with his victim.  The court subsequently sentenced him to 5 years for the act. 

Evans was released on 17th October, 2014, just half way through this sentence.  He is preparing now to rejoin his former club, Sheffield United, but this decision has divided the public over whether Evans should be allowed to return to his former employment.

Last week, the chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), Gordon Taylor, stated that Evans could be allowed to continue his career after his release. In other words, he was saying that Evans will be punished twice for his crime if he is denied the privilege of participating in his former club.

Aside from this support, Evans has not received much support from the public regarding his decision to return to Sheffield United.    The British Deputy Prime Minster, Nick Clegg, who is the MP for Sheffield Hallam, for example, urged the Sheffield Club to "think really long and hard" before re-signing Evans.

Similarly, Richard Caborn, an ex-MP for Sheffield Central and a former sports minister added to the woes of Evans by stating that he should "show remorse and say sorry" before he can be considered for a return to his former career. 

These critics might argue that any decision to allow Evans to play for his former club once again without proper contrition from the player may not serve as deterrent for footballers considering crime similar to that of Evans in the future.   For the fact that these footballers might have the perception that they can have their job back after release from prison for any possible sexual crimes they might commit. 
Ched Evans

This may not necessarily be accurate and Evans case should be treated as an exception rather than the rule.  Evans is just among the few lucky people to be re-employed by their former employers after serving a jail term.  In most cases ex criminals never returned to their former employers after release from prison.

Besides, Evans has always maintained his innocence and the defense of consensual sex with his victim since the first day he was implicated in the rape crime.  Now that he has served his punishment for the sexual crime Evans should be allowed to lead his life like any other citizen.  This includes allowing him to return to his previous career and play for his former club. 

Denying him this opportunity to play for his Sheffield United because of his former conviction is tantamount to punishing Evans twice for the same offence.   This will be contrary to the British law which states that a criminal cannot be punished twice for the same offence.  In addition, there is no section of the law that bars Evans from playing for his former club after serving the conviction.

Sheffield United
Critics of the decision to allow Evans back to his former football career should recognise that the cost of offenders and ex offenders to British tax payers is enormous.  Government spends a lot of resources training prisoners both in prison and after release.  This training is usually designed to help prisoners gain employability skills which can enable the prisons earn a living and abandon their criminal career. 

It is also believed that the cost of ex-offenders to society can be drastically reduced by having the ex- criminals in employment.  Therefore, this news that Evans is going back to his former football career after serving his term in prison should be commendable rather than criticised.

Evans has suffered doubly for his crime.  Unless the conviction is overturned, he will live with the stigma of a convicted rapist for life.  In addition, he lost a lot of earnings during the time he was in prison.  Therefore, there is no better time than now to allow him to rebuild this shattered life.

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