Notes

Teams: Sofia/Tianye Ryan/Emily Jonah/Ray Iris/Ellen Andrew/Dawson David/Carol Angelina/Dori Sunney/Jayden Emma/Lucy Gary/Matthew Sarah/Juliana Leo/Deborah Jason/Rayna Owen/Michael
Resolved: The United States federal government should enact substantial criminal justice reform in the United States in one or more of the following: forensic science, policing, sentencing.
Forensic Science: DNA Sampling
Policing: Asset Forfeiture (can legally take property from you)
Sentencing: Abolishing the Death Penalty
.
.
Forensic Science: DNA Sampling
.
Policing: Asset Forfeiture (can legally take property from you)
.
Sentencing: Abolishing the Death Penalty


Topic Lecture: Sentencing

Criminal Justice:
1. Arrested
2. Charged
3. Plea Bargain/Trial
4. Sentencing
5.

BAIL
Allows you to not stay in jail by putting up money
Bail bondsmen loan you money in exchange for a percent of the bail.

Plea Bargaining
-The defendant can plead guilty in exchange for a lesser sentence
-The government gives you less punishment in return for agreeing to testify or plead guilty
-95% of criminal cases are settled by plea bargaining
-95% of time there is not trial
-Necessary evil?
-Coercion?
-Without pleas courts would be heavily backed up. Cases would increase 20x
-Trials take a long time, there is limited court space, and juries take a long time
-Allows for prosecution of higher up criminals.

Mandatory Minimums
-US has 5% of the world's population but 25% of the world's prison population
-Non-violent drug offenses have mandatory minimum sentences that include prison time
-Abolishing mandatory minimums
-Judge can fit the punishment to the crime instead of being forced to assign certain jail time
-Recidivism

The one where you die
JUSTIFICATIONS
-Deterrence (People won't commit crime in first place because they could die)
Stains on Humanity (Sometimes people are so horrible they deserve to die, there is no hope or use for them)
-Justice for Victims (True justice requires the criminal's death)

DISADVANTAGES
-Killing Innocents (Unable to undo. Permanent an irreversible)
-Racism (Juries convict black defendants at higher rates for same crime)
-Tiny Deterrent Increase (Difference between life w/o parole and death isn't huge. Probability rather than severity)
-Costs (On avg. death penalty cases are $200,000 more expensive: they get appealed a TON, still in prison)


Asset Forfeiture
Background: The proceeds from the sales of assets are deposited into an asset forfeiture fund in the DOJ
If your assets are implicated in a criminal case, they can be seized, regardless of whether you are a suspect
Used to make money for the government and is also supposed to to be used for stopping the crime in question
The burden of proving that the assets shouldn't have been forfeited is shifted to the owner of the assets; the standard is a preponderance of evidence, or more likely than not

The Case for abolishing asset forfeiture
1: Used to make money instead of its original purpose; over $1 billion per year
2: State laws can be evaded
3: Infringes on property rights; 80% of the assets seized belong to people who are never prosecuted for a crime
4: Police abuse: gives the police the incentive to investigate crimes that have more money involved
5: Violates presumption of innocence


DNA Sampling
Background: If you are taken in for a federal crime, your DNA is taken and put into a national database
Your DNA is kept in the database regardless of whether you are actually charged with a crime

Justifications:
1: Privacy is the main argument
2: Backlog: it can take years to get results for DNA samples that we need to solve crimes because of how many samples we take


NEGATIVE BRIEFS
1. Know the affirmative case
-Plan text
-Advantages/Harms
2. The Process
-Research first, then create arguments
-Credible sources: government documents, experts, reputable new sites, etc.
-Field sources: Case law, Judges, Lawyers, Police Chiefs