Its a cultural problem. Black people frequently hurt their children and their wives/girlfriends.
Speaking specifically to the NFL population, I don't believe that this phenomenon is strictly a cultural problem, I suspect it's a genetic problem, in fact, I suspect that it is primarily a genetic problem.
As for the genetics issue,
here's what we know:
A line of research has revealed that a polymorphism in the promoter region of the MAOA gene is related to antisocial phenotypes. Most of these studies examine the effects of low MAOA activity alleles (2-repeat and 3-repeat alleles) against the effects of high MAOA activity alleles (3.5-repeat, 4-repeat, and some-times 5-repeat alleles), with research indicating that the low MAOA activity alleles confer an increased risk to antisocial phenotypes. The current study examined whether the 2-repeat allele, which has been shown to be functionally different from the 3-repeat allele, was associated with a range of antisocial phenotypes in a sample of males drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Analyses revealed that African-American males who carried the 2-repeat allele were, in comparison with other African-American male genotypes, significantly more likely to be arrested and incarcerated. Additional analyses revealed that African-American male carriers of the 2-repeat allele scored significantly higher on an antisocial phenotype index and on measures assessing involvement in violent behaviors over the life course. There was not any association between the 2-repeat allele and a continuously measured psychopathic personality traits scale. The effects of the 2-repeat allele could not be examined in Caucasian males because only 0.1% carried it.
Blacks are 52 times more likely than whites to be 2-repeat allele carriers. My hypothesis is this - to be successful at football one needs to be comfortable with violence. We're not going to see Miles Crane from Frazier gearing up to go on the field. So it's likely that there is a correlation between football players and 2-repeat allele carriers. I don't have any clue as to the strength of this hypothesized association but I suspect we'll find it if we are interested enough to look for it.
The culture component actually saves these guys - their talent has been steered towards athletics rather than crime but their thoughts and inclinations are what lead them into trouble with the law.