Basic Downloads

Are you new to speech and debate? The following downloads are for you. They contain introductions to various events that the Monument Membership explores. These downloads are updated every summer to prepare for the new year of competition.

Your Basic Downloads Source Material for Season 22:

File Name	S22-Policy-NCFCA-33-AFF-DCParole.docx
File Size	565.52 KB
Date added	January 3, 2022
Category	Policy (NCFCA)
Author	Luke Carlsen

Resolved: The United States Federal Government should significantly reform its policies regarding convicted prisoners under federal jurisdiction

Case Summary: This plan passes H.R. 658, which will transfer power from the United States Parole Commission to the local government of the District of Columbia and allow them to manage their own parole system. Offenders convicted of crimes in the District of Columbia get sent to federal prison (even if the crimes they committed were not literally “federal” crimes). DC offenders therefore fit the resolution as convicted prisoners “under federal jurisdiction.” Congress has jurisdiction over the District in “all cases whatsoever” (Art. 1 Sec. 8 of the Constitution), but it has, since the mid-1970s, allowed the District some measure of self-government under local elected leaders. Congress still retains full jurisdiction and can change or retract local decision-making at any time.

The District used to manage parole for its imprisoned offenders. But in 1998, an Act of Congress transferred power over parole from the local DC government to the US Parole Commission, the same agency that handles parole for all other federal inmates. This case argues it’s time to go back to the old way and let DC handle its own parole and supervised release prisoners, even if they’re still in federal prisons.

Parole was abolished for all other federal inmates starting in 1987, so the USPC has only a few “regular” older inmates left who are still eligible for parole – the ones who were convicted before the rules were changed in ’87. The vast majority of USPC’s work involves DC prisoners, given that there are so few regular federal prisoners left from before 1987.

The local DC government abolished parole beginning in August, 2000. But all the DC prisoners in federal custody convicted before that time are still eligible for it. In addition, the Parole Board manages the cases of prisoners on “supervised release,” which are an ongoing number that continues into the future, regardless of parole. Lots of prisoners are given terms of “supervised release” at the end of their sentence or as part of their sentence, and the abolition of DC parole does not change this.

The US Parole Commission and the federal CSOSA (Community Supervision and Offender Services Agency) have been failing in their duties to manage DC prisoners properly, leading to unjust outcomes and not representing the needs of the local community in Washington. This bill gets USPC out of the picture, turns CSOSA over to the local District of Columbia government, and puts parole/supervised release under the localized CSOSA.

Download Your Preseason Documents, too:

You may still access Season 21 downloads here.

All Season 22 Basic Downloads will be updated by August 31, 2021. They will remain available through Season 22.

Easy Entry to the World of Speech and Debate

All Members have access to the digital copy of Easy Entry to the World of Speech and Debate by Chris Jeub. Download it below or order a hard copy.

Season 22 Release Schedule

Monument releases content all year long, from one national tournament to another, in what we call "seasons." We are entering Season 22 (2021-2022). For a list of all Member downloads for Season 21, click here. The following is the general release schedule for Season 22:

End of Season 21 - Officially archived on June 28, 2021. The new Season 22 releases begin July 5, 2021.
July-August - The first Monument Monday releases July 5, 2021. Basic informational material will continue through the summer (e.g. summaries, resolutional articles, etc.).
August 30, 2021 - End of the Pre-season, beginning of the official year of Monument Speech and Debate.
~~Christmas~~ Thanksgiving 2021 (we finished early!) - All foundational downloads are complete! Summaries of all releases are now available.
Through March 2022 - BONUS material released to members on a more as-needed basis using our Coaching Request Form.
April-June, 2022 - Qualifier and Nationals Preparation work is arranged...and Monument Members will be prepared to win!

Season 22 Debate Resolutions

Resolutions for Season 22 are posted here as they are announced by various speech and debate leagues.

Policy (all season):
- NCFCA: "Resolved: The United States Federal Government should significantly reform its policies regarding convicted prisoners under federal jurisdiction."
- NSDA: "Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its protection of water resources in the United States."
- NSDA Vote for Season 23 (Due December 15, 2021):
  - OPTION 1 – GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE – Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its support of multilateral greenhouse gas emission reduction regimes.
  - OPTION 2 – GLOBAL GEO-POLITICAL CRISIS: EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES – Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase its security cooperation with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in one or more of the following areas: artificial intelligence, biotechnology, cybersecurity.
- Stoa: "Resolved: The United States Federal Government should substantially reform the use of Artificial Intelligence technology."
Lincoln-Douglas:
- NCFCA (all season): "Resolved: In the context of innovation, the proactionary principle ought to be valued above the precautionary principle."
- NSDA releases six resolutions through the year:
  - Sept/Oct Novice: "Resolved: Civil disobedience in a democracy is morally justified."
  - Sept/Oct Varsity: "Resolved: The member nations of the World Trade Organization ought to reduce intellectual property protections for medicines."
  - Nov/Dec: "Resolved: A just government ought to recognize an unconditional right of workers to strike."
  - Jan/Feb: "Resolved: The appropriation of outer space by private entities is unjust."
  - Next release is due February 1, 2022.
- Stoa (all season): "Resolved: In the field of biomedical engineering, restraint ought to be prioritized over scientific advancement."
Other Formats:
- Big Questions Debate (all season): "Resolved: On balance, societies benefit from religious belief and practice."
- Public Forum for Sept/Oct: "Resolved: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization should substantially increase its defense commitments to the Baltic states."
- Public Forum for Nov/Dec: "Resolved: Increased United States federal regulation of cryptocurrency transactions and/or assets will produce more benefits than harms."
- Public Forum for January: "Resolved: The United States federal government should legalize all illicit drugs."
- Public Forum's next release is due January 1, 2022.

Permission & Usage

Click Here for complete information on permissions. All Membership content and Library Archives are proprietary intellectual content, so please respect our copyrights. Simply put, if you are not a Monument Member, you may not use it or share its content. If one partner of a debate team is a member and the other is not, the one who is a Monument Member must be the controller of the logins, downloads and incorporation of the Monument Membership material. Sharing logins is strictly prohibited, the only exception being from immediate family members within a single household.