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5803 motions

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  • This house prefers the use of jury trials over bench trials.

    Infoslide

    In criminal trials, a jury is a group of usually 12 ordinary citizens chosen at random to hear the evidence of the case given to the court, decide what facts of the case they believe, and deliver a verdict of the case (i.e. "guilty" or "not guilty"). Members of the jury are prohibited from discussing the case with anyone other than another member of the jury until the trial is complete. The decision of the jury must be unanimous or reach an acceptable majority. If the jury decides a "not guilty" verdict, the accused is let go; if the jury decides a "guilty" verdict, the accused is convicted of the crime and the judge proceeds to determine the criminal sentence. Although the judge cannot directly influence the jury, they typically brief members of the jury how to properly and fairly assess the evidence of the case. A criminal trial that includes a jury is called a jury trial. A criminal trial that does not have a jury is called a bench trial. In bench trials, only the judges themselves hear a case and decide the verdict.

    Singapore International Schools Debating Championships 2025 · Senior Quarterfinals · 2025-11-16

  • Assuming feasibility, This house supports 'Farmageddon'

    Infoslide

    <div>'Farmageddon' is an advanced virtual reality technology which allows participants to accurately experience life from the first-person perspective of a random factory-farmed animal (e.g. a cow, a chicken, a pig). Once logged in, the user retains their memories from outside the simulation but experiences the animal's sensations as if they were real.</div><div><br></div><div>One session lasts for an hour in real life, but time is dilated to make the user feel as if they've spent a month in the simulation. Once you enter, you cannot leave until the simulation ends. If it were to exist, every adult would be required to enter the simulation.</div>

    Singapore International Schools Debating Championships 2025 · Senior Finals · 2025-11-16

  • This house supports the sex exceptionalist view of sexual harm

    Infoslide

    A sex exceptionalist view of sexual harm holds that sexual harms are more severe than, and qualitatively distinct from, other forms of bodily or emotional harm.

    ANU Spring 2025 · Semifinals · 2025-11-15

  • This house regrets the deinstitutionalisation of mental health treatment.

    Infoslide

    The deinstitutionalisation of mental health treatment refers to the transition of care away from acute care to community-based care. Acute care refers to care occurring within a hospital (or ‘asylum’) where patients are admitted, sometimes involuntarily, and reside in the hospital for the duration of their treatment. Community based care refers to non-residential treatment, typically occurring within outpatient clinics or the patient’s own home. Relative to acute care, community care is less intense, occurring at most a few times a week, as opposed to every day. Since 1950, the number of UK acute beds has reduced from 150,000 to 27,000.

    Norwich Mini 2025 · Round 4 · 2025-11-14

  • This House Would Choose to be born on North Sentinel Island over being born randomly somewhere else in the world

    Infoslide

    North Sentinel Island, part of the Andaman archipelago in the Bay of Bengal, houses the Sentinelese, an isolated indigenous tribe that vigorously defends its seclusion from outsiders. For the purposes of this debate, if you are born on the North Sentinel Island, basic food security is guaranteed and no climate-change-related disasters will occur during your lifetime.

    Ecuadorian National Schools Debating Championship 2025 · Round 4 · 2025-11-14

  • This house, as the 14th Dalai Lama, W publicly declare that there will be no 15th Dalai Lama.

    Infoslide

    The Dalai Lama is a title given to the spiritual leader of the Gelug school, the newest and most dominant of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The incumbent 14th Dalai Lama is known for his work in overcoming sectarian divisions and representing unified Buddhist values and traditions. After the annexation of Tibet by the People's Republic of China, he escaped to India after the failed 1959 Tibetan uprising, where he continues to live in exile while remaining the spiritual leader of Tibet. Traditionally, the Dalai Lama is believed by adherents to be able to choose the body into which he is reincarnated, and upon his death, a search for the Lama’s reincarnation is conducted alongside a consultation with his personal oracle. The Chinese Communist Party has stated its intention to be the ultimate authority on the selection of the next Dalai Lama, and have even enshrined this right into Chinese law.

    LUMS Asians x OPFDC 2025 · Grand Final · 2025-11-10

  • This house prefers the integrated model to the specialty model

    Infoslide

    There are two ways that governments can consider disadvantage in policy- making. The "integrated model" incorporates disadvantage as an inherent consideration in policy-making (e.g. all new policies made in the education department must consider implications for rural students). The "specialty model" involves having a distinct division that specifically engages with policy for disadvantaged groups (e.g. the education department has a division that directly and separately addresses helping rural areas).

    LUMS Asians x OPFDC 2025 · U-19 Semifinals · 2025-11-10

  • This House, as the Jewish American student, Would join the encampment.

    Infoslide

    The UCLA Gaza Solidarity Encampment was a pro-Palestine protest established on campus lasting from April 25th to May 2nd, 2024 as part of a nationwide student movement calling for divestment of university funds from Israel due to their actions in Gaza. It drew significant attention after violent clashes between protesters, counterprotesters, and police led to injuries and numerous arrests. You are a Jewish-American UCLA student with progressive politics coming from a middle-class background in Los Angeles. You are on campus during the time of the encampment.

    USC Mini 2025 · Grand Final · 2025-11-08

  • This House Believes That states with predominantly Muslim populations should embrace Islamic modernism over Islamic secularism.

    Infoslide

    Islamic modernism refers to a movement which attempts to syncretize the Islamic faith with values typically associated with western modernity, including but not lmited to democracy, civil rights, and equality. It is described by scholar Mustafa Akyol as an effort to re-read Islam's fundamental sources--the Qur'an and the Sunna--by placing them in their historical context, and then reasssessing them in the light of the modern context. It is contrasted with Islamic secularism, which argues that Islamic influences on political and legal systems should be removed in favor of a separation of religion and state.

    USC Mini 2025 · Round 3 · 2025-11-08

  • This house supports the creation of legal cyber-arms markets

    Infoslide

    The cyber-arms market refers to the trade of software vulnerabilities, exploits, and hacking tools. In recent years, companies such as Zerodium and NSO Group have emerged to operate in the legal segment of this market. These firms acquire exploits both through in-house research and by offering public bounty programs, where they publish price lists detailing substantial payouts, ranging from tens of thousands to millions of dollars, for previously unknown vulnerabilities that meet specific criteria (for example, $1 million for a verified iOS remote code execution exploit)

    Chancellor's Cup 2025 · Semifinals · 2025-11-08

  • This house opposes linguistic nationalism

    Infoslide

    Linguistic nationalism is the belief that language is central to a nation's identity. This can be seen in the existence of national languages, historical programs of linguistic assimilation (eg. the French government making active efforts to eliminate Breton and Occitan language), and the differentiation of mutually intelligible languages on political grounds (splitting of Serbo-Croat into Serbian and Croatian, splitting of Hindustani into Urdu and Hindi)

    Chancellor's Cup 2025 · Grand Final · 2025-11-08

  • This house, as a developing nation, would attempt to emulate the economic and cultural strategies of the Four Asian Tigers, as opposed to a Western-style development strategy that emphasizes establishing strong democratic institutions, gradual market reform, civil liberties and human rights protections as preconditions for economic progress

    Infoslide

    The "Four Asian Tigers" is a term that refers to the economies of Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. They are characterized by rapid industrialization throughout the latter half of the 20th century that skyrocketed the nations to massive developments through a combination of free- market policies, heavy investment in education and training, strong exports, and cultural workaholism.

    UBC Summer HST 2025 · Semifinals · 2025-11-04

  • This house believes that religious leaders should not endorse candidates for political office.

    Infoslide

    Religious leaders are people who guide others in their faith, like priests, imams, rabbis, or monks. Political office means a job in the government where someone makes laws or important decisions for the public, like being a mayor, president, or member of parliament.

    Australasian Schools Debating Championships 2025 · Round 4 · 2025-11-02

  • This house supports the rise in civil disobedience within the EU

    Infoslide

    Civil disobedience is the nonviolent refusal to obey certain laws or commands of a government, often as a form of protest against perceived injustice. It aims to bring about change by highlighting the moral issues associated with specific laws or policies. Examples include Dutch farmers protesting by blocking roads, German climate protestors gluing themselves to the Munich airport runway, French students creating encampments on campuses, etc.

    DTU Pre-Worlds 2025 · Grand Final · 2025-11-01