Debate Tournament | 2023 Judicial Reform Cup National High School and Vocational School Debate Competition

In contemporary society, fraud rings are constantly devising new methods to create fund-flow breakpoints and obtain dummy accounts. To cope with the endless cases of dummy-account fraud, judicial practice has developed the standard of "presuming that individuals who hand over their accounts possess the conditional intent to aid and abet fraud and money laundering," creating the possibility of miscarriages of justice and plunging disadvantaged citizens into predicaments.

Since 2013, the Judicial Reform Foundation has long been concerned with this systemic issue of judicial human rights. Actions taken include holding press conferences to call on all sectors to attach importance to the unreasonableness of judicial practice in determining fraudulent intent, submitting petitions to the National Human Rights Commission in response, submitting statement of opinions on amendments to the draft Money Laundering Control Act announced by the Ministry of Justice, and continuously participating in consultation meetings on amendments held by the Ministry of Justice; at the same time, it has also invited both prosecutors and defense attorneys as well as scholars to hold seminars, debate competitions, and post-debate forums.

This time, the Judicial Reform Foundation is co-hosting this Judicial Reform Cup National High School and Vocational School Debate Competition with CDPA, an organization dedicated to the long-term promotion of public-issue critical thinking. The event is co-organized by the Taichung Bar Association, Changhua Bar Association, Nantou Bar Association, and the Debate Club of Taichung Municipal Wun-Hua Senior High School. It is hoped that through the debate competition, participating high school and vocational school students from various schools will be guided to engage in critical thinking and promote the debate topic, fostering greater dialogue while helping students understand the systemic judicial issues behind fraud.

Online Registration Deadline: March 19 at 22:00

Target Participants

Enrolled students in national high schools, vocational schools, and years 1 to 3 of five-year junior colleges.

Event Venues

• June 3 Preliminaries: Wun-Hua Senior High School (No. 240, Ningxia Rd., Xitun Dist., Taichung City 407)
• June 4 Semifinals and Finals: Taichung Bar Association (32F., No. 218, Sec. 2, Taiwan Blvd., West Dist., Taichung City 403)

Event Dates

• Competition Dates: Saturday, June 3, 2023 to Sunday, June 4, 2023
• First Team Leaders Meeting: Held online on Saturday, April 15, 2023, at 10:00; meeting link to be announced separately. Agenda items include draw for competition brackets, debate topic clarifications, and administrative announcements for the competition.
• Second Team Leaders Meeting: Held online on Friday, June 2, 2023, at 19:00; meeting link to be announced separately.

Competition System

New-style Oregon 4-4-4 format, with the negative side always delivering the closing statement first.

Debate Topic

In fraud prevention policies, adding criminal liability is more important than strengthening financial regulatory measures / In fraud prevention policies, strengthening financial regulatory measures is more important than adding criminal liability

Team Formation and Admission Method

• The maximum number of teams for this competition is 12.
• Registration is based on schools, with a limit of 1 team per school, 1 team leader per team, and a maximum of 6 debaters. Debaters may concurrently serve as the team leader.
• Co-organizing unit Taichung Municipal Wun-Hua Senior High School is reserved one guaranteed admission quota. Admission rules prioritize schools in the central region (Taichung City, Miaoli County, Changhua County, Nantou County, and Yunlin County), with the remaining slots admitted in order of registration time.

Registration Method

• No registration fee; a deposit of NTD 1,000 per team is required and will be returned after the participating team fully participates in the event.
• Registration Period: From Friday, March 17, 2023, at 22:00 to Sunday, March 19, 2023, at 22:00.
• Schools and teams wishing to participate should fill out the online registration form for this competition. The form requires: email address, registered school, registered unit (e.g., Speech and Debate Club), team leader's name, and team leader's phone number. The form will open for submissions when registration begins.
• The tournament committee will announce the list of accepted and waitlisted schools before 22:00 on Monday, March 20, 2023.
  Accepted schools are requested to complete the remittance and email the last 5 digits of the remittance account (not the transaction serial number) to taichung@jrf.org.tw before 22:00 on Sunday, March 26, 2023. Registration is completed only after confirmation by the committee.
  • Deposit: NTD 1,000
  • Deposit Bank: E.Sun Commercial Bank (Nanjing East Road Branch / Code 803)
  • Account Name: Judicial Reform Foundation
  • Account Number: 0051-0017-1390

Awards

• Team Awards:
  • Champion: Prize of NTD 8,000 and one trophy
  • Runner-up: Prize of NTD 5,000 and one trophy
• Individual Awards:
  • Best Debater (one person): Prize of NTD 3,000 and one trophy

Deposit Notes

If a participating team violates any of the following regulations, the deposit will not be returned or will be partially deducted:

• Teams withdrawing before Friday, April 14, 2023, will have 1/2 of their deposit deducted; teams withdrawing from Saturday, April 15, 2023, onward will have their full deposit deducted.
• All participating teams must send personnel to attend the second team leaders meeting; proxy attendance is not permitted. Being late by less than 10 minutes will result in a 1/3 deposit deduction; being late by more than 10 minutes will be considered failure to attend, and the committee will deduct 1/2 of the deposit.
• All participating teams must send 3 or more personnel to attend the championship/runner-up finals and the closing ceremony. Participating personnel must be individuals registered on the debater roster. Being late by less than 10 minutes will result in a 1/3 deposit deduction; being late by more than 10 minutes will be considered failure to attend, and the committee will deduct 1/2 of the deposit.
• All participating teams must participate throughout their scheduled matches; those who fail to show up will have their full deposit deducted by the committee.
• All participating teams must properly retain their deposit receipt. Those who fail to provide the original deposit receipt for a refund on the day of the event conclusion will have NTD 500 deducted from their deposit by the committee. Those who fail to provide deposit receipt proof within 5 days after the event conclusion will have their full deposit deducted.
• Teams determined by the committee to have used altered or forged materials during the competition will have their full deposit deducted.
• For other violations of competition rules requiring a deposit deduction, the amount will be decided by the committee based on the severity of the circumstances.
• For other major incidents disrupting the competition or committee operations, the amount will be decided by the committee based on the severity of the circumstances.

Image Authorization

Debaters and team leaders who register for the competition shall be deemed to have authorized and consented to the organizer and co-organizers taking photographs and videos of the competition activities during the team leaders meetings and formal matches. Related audio, video, and image materials will be used for archival preservation, outcome presentation, and event promotion.

Reference Materials

Prospectus for the 2023 Judicial Reform Cup National High School and Vocational School Debate Competition

Organizer

Taichung Office of the Judicial Reform Foundation, CDPA (Chinese Debate Promotion Association)

Co-organizers

Taichung Bar Association, Changhua Bar Association, Nantou Bar Association, Debate Club of Taichung Municipal Wun-Hua Senior High School