Discussion Class

Discussion Class Topics

- Friday the 19th of December -

(12pm)

- The UK look to axe some jury trials -

The UK government plans, under Justice Secretary David Lammy, to reform the criminal justice system, and especially to end the need for juries for some trials. The plans have said jury trials will be limited to the most serious offences, like rape and murder. But for lesser crimes, especially those that carry a sentence or less than 3 years, they plan to end the need juries, and instead have a judge-only trial.

The reason given is to reduce trial times, and waiting times, to ease the growing strain on the court system.

Supporters of these reforms say this will help the victims see justice faster and ensure less people will drop their cases.

Critics say this is a path to authoritarianism where a single judge decides if someone is innocent or guilty, and notably that judges are often heavily influenced by the government, despite them supposing to be separate.

This is an especially politically charged issue in the UK as the right to a trial by your peers (jury trials) has been enshrined in law for over 800 years under the Magna Carta.

So is this a good idea? Should the government prioritise efficiency over justice and fairness? Do you trust individual judges to be fair and balanced. How can governments fix the failing justice system if not by removing jury trials?

Let's discuss this!

- Friday the 19th of December -

(8pm)

- Japan eyes massive visa price hikes -

The new Japanese government under Sanae Takaichi have been making a lot of noise recently about the "foreigner problem". One thing that they and the media have seemed to focus on is the application and renewal prices for visas. When foreign people move to Japan they have to pay the Japanese government to do. This can vary depending on the type of visa, but generally the price is about 4000-6000 yen. Some Japanese lawmakers have argued that this is way too cheap relative to other countries, where visa applications can cost hundreds of dollars/pounds/euros. And whilst this is true, they seem to forget/ignore the fact that those other countries also have way higher salaries than Japan. So when it was reported that visa costs could rise as much as 10 times (to around 40,000 yen), some foreign residents were, understandably quite angry. That is a significant jump in cost, without any rise in salary. For permanent resident applications, which currently cost 10,000 yen in a one off payment, there were some reports saying it could go up as high as 300,000 yen! Again, without any salary rise. This is effectively an entire month's salary for a single person. For a family, it is possibly completely unaffordable!

Do you think these price rises are a good idea? Are they reasonable, or too much or little? And what problem are these increases actually solving? What do you think they knock on effect of these changes might be? Will it improve the Japanese economy? Will it reduce the number of foreign residents working and living in Japan? And will that be good or bad for Japan?

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Let's discuss this!

- Sunday the 11th of January -

(11am)

- Should the US government have stayed shutdown? -

Recently, the US government was shut down from October 1st to November 12th, a total of 43 days, making this the longest government shutdown in US history. One key issue that led to this shutdown was whether the Affordable Care Act (also known as Obamacare) should be extended. Ultimately, the Democrats decided to approve the Republican spending bill, ending the government shutdown. And for what? To put the Affordable Care Act issue to a vote in December.

Many people view this as a cowardly capitulation of the Dems, but what about the families who were not being paid while this shutdown was in effect? What would you have done in this situation? Why does it seem like the Democrats are always the ones to back down?

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Let's discuss this!