Ched Evans: Does He Deserve a Second Chance?

On the 20th April 2012 Ched Evans, former Sheffield United footballer and Wales international was convicted of raping a 19 year old woman who was deemed too drunk to consent. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison, but released in October last year having served half his sentence.

Now a free man, Evans has just recently signed a deal with League 1 club Oldham, reportedly worth a mere £400-a-week, a fraction of his previous salary prior to his conviction. This comes after ferocious backlash from football fans, managers and club sponsors alike expressing their discontent at him being allowed back in the game at all.  A petition signed by 150,000 people connected with Sheffield United believed that the club asking Ched to return to the club would be a "deep insult to the woman who was raped and to all women like her who have suffered at the hands of a rapist".

I understand their point of view, however I have to disagree.

Ched Evans is a human being. A convicted rapist yes but still a human being. And one of the basic things human beings need in this world is work. We need work in order to make a living, so we can afford to buy things that'll feed our families and help us survive.

Ched Evans at Sheffield United

So in essence what are we saying when we sign petitions begging our respective football club not to sign Ched Evans? What are businesswoman Lindsay Graham, television presenter Charlie Webster and musician Dave Berry saying when they resigned as patron of Sheffield United FC in response to the club allowing him to train with them? What is Jessica Ennis-Hill saying when she announced that she would want her name removed from a stand at the club's football ground if Evans was signed by the club? What is the Hartlepool MP Iain Wright saying when he labelled Evans as a "pariah", in response to Hartlepool's potential signing of him?

We are saying that even though Ched Evans has now paid his dues and completed his sentence (short as it may be), he doesn't deserve to do the basic thing that every human being should have the opportunity to do:- Work.

It's all well and good saying that he shouldn't be allowed to return to the game because of his crime, but aren't the aims of prison not only to punish the offender, but also to reform them and prepare them for reintegration into society? How can prison and the criminal justice system as a whole seek to achieve this aim if Ched Evans is met with constant backlash and continuous threats from big-name sponsors and brands to quit should he be signed?

Rape is a horrific crime, both physically and emotionally, and I am in no way making light of the seriousness of it. But we have to seriously ask ourselves how right it is to deprive someone returning to the profession from which they make their trade. What if playing football is the only thing he knows how to do? Should he be forced to quit the entire game because of his crime?

I recognise that there are many different factors running through this case which makes it emotionally difficult to judge objectively. Maybe the 5 year sentence for the crime of rape, for which he only served 2, is far too lenient. Maybe the fact that Ched has always maintained his innocence, makes it hard to look at him with any form of compassion. But all these factors are slight deviations from the main issue.

The point is, Ched has been found guilty, he has been sentenced, he has served his time and now he is free. Was he right to lose his job upon his conviction? Absolutely. But is it right to try and exclude him from an entire profession his whole livelihood depends on, based on a crime which he has already served time for? I personally don't think so.