Suspensions and fines are handed down in professional sports quite often, sometimes for illegal off-the-field conduct, other times for on-the-court brawls. But not all suspensions are created equal. When are these punishments truly warranted?

This is a broad and complicated issue. It is also difficult to provide any kind of sweeping application regarding the issue because it should be taken on a case-by-case basis. But generally speaking, committing a crime off the field will get you fined or suspended, and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Citizens of any profession are expected to stay out of legal trouble.

But we all know that sports stars are under a very different type of scrutiny. The reason I bring this up now is because of all of the talk about Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger getting suspended after being accused of sexual assault twice in eight months. But these were not his first behavioral issues, nor were they the only ones that the NFL has seen lately.

The moral dilemma here is that Roethlisberger was not actually charged with a crime in either case. Sure, every team has its own policies for dealing with player conduct issues. But is it proper to suspend a star athlete if there was never even a chance for a jury to reach a ‘guilty’ verdict?

Roethlisberger has not even been charged with a crime. But that, of course, is not the whole story: The media portrayal of what happened paints Roethlisberger in a negative way, so even if he’s not found guilty in a court of law, he still may be involved in conduct detrimental to his team ‘ in which case it should be up to Pittsburgh whether or not to suspend him.

So you might propose that the league or the team should at least fine Roethlisberger a few thousand bucks for his conduct if they don’t suspend him. But fines have become a trivial and inherently ineffective way to enforce professional sports policy. How can you fine a guy $20,000 when he makes $5 million a year and expect him to learn a lesson? An athlete could do 100 things wrong and still have enough money to put eight cars in his driveway.

Proponents of fining and suspending players will then argue that punishment sends a message to the rest of the players and the public that the behavior is not acceptable. I counter, ladies and gentlemen, with Chad Ochocinco. The proverbial goofball has a knack for humorously performing actions that are against NFL regulations. He has taped a fake name on the back of his jersey, jokingly bribed a referee during a game and used props in touchdown celebrations.

The NFL keeps fining Ochocinco, and he gladly keeps on paying; it’s not like it’s taking any food off his table. He continues to enjoy his antics and fans and the media can’t get enough. Some lesson, huh? The point is that while fines serve a legitimate purpose in criticizing impermissible behavior, it does not have the effect of stopping such behavior. Fines become trivial and behavior never changes.

So what do we do? It’s not like we can do nothing; athletes will continue to do bad things and we will continue to obsess about it. So suspend a guy, fine him some money, but don’t expect it to change anything. Athletes will constantly be doing dumber (and sillier) things, from Michael Vick’s dogfights to Plaxico Burress shooting himself. As a fan, there is only one thing you can do: Just hope that the next idiot in the headlines doesn’t play for your favorite team.