Tournament: UT Austin | Round: 2 | Opponent: Connal AW | Judge: Andre Adames
Framing

Small step reforms are key to improving the material manifestations of oppression.  We must prioritize structural changes to abstract social movements

Meiners 11 Erica R. “Ending the school to prison pipeline/Building abolition futures.”Urban Review 43 (4), 547–465.Prof. of Education and Gender and Women’s Studies @ Northeastern Illinois University (IE)

As is the case with many pressing justice issues—

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This has specific implications for educators.

Prioritizing actions that stop proximate violence is key, we must understand macro-level violence in the context of its effect on people’s everyday lives 

Cuomo 96 (Chris, Prof. of Political Science @ U of Cincinnati, “War is not just an event: reflections on the significance of everyday violence”, Hypatia, vol. 11, no. 4 Fall (1994))

Theory that does not investigate or even notice the omnipresence of militarism 

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it is perpetrated by military institutions and other militaristic agents of the state.

Debate is uniquely key- We must create alternative narratives by interrogating what structural change best reverses chronic injustices  

Giroux.  “Neoliberalism and the Machinery of Disposability.” 2014. 

Before this dangerously authoritarian mindset has a chance 

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politics that shapes society from the bottom up.

The role of the ballot is to vote for the debater who provides the structural change that best resists violent oppression 

In the face of a culture of cruelty, public schools and higher education have the potential to teach the next generation how to resist structural violence

Giroux, Henry. "Why Teachers Matter in Dark Times." Truthout. 2016. 

A culture of cruelty and a survival-of-the-fittest ethos 

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students to address them.

Public schools employees are given access to qualified immunity to avoid liability 

Texas Association of School Boards, Inc. 2015 “School Marshals and Other District Personnel Carrying Firearms.”

Claims may be brought against an individual 

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inherent in school district’s policies and practices. 

Public schools are expanding their use of School Resource and School Police Officers, who have access to QI 

Perry Zirkel. “Police Personnel and Tactics.” 2010. National Association of Elementary School Principles. 

Seeking proactive ways for ensuring student safety

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reasonable boundaries and trigger losing liability litigation.

SROs are the fastest growing segment of law enforcement, but only a fraction have been trained to work in schools and there is little accountability for their actions

Giroux, Henry. "The United States' War on Youth: From Schools to Debtors' Prisons." Truthout. N.p., 2016. Web.

While there has been a great deal of publicity nationwide over police officers 

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one cop threatened to shoot students on a bus. 

Thus the plan: Limit qualified immunity by denying immunity to School Resource Officers and School police officers

Qualified immunity allows officers to be protected even when they’ve violated the law, which destroys accountability and allows for unchecked police violence.  Rolling back qualified immunity is the first step towards true accountability and curbing police violence. 

Wright 15

Sam Wright. “Want to Fight Police Misconduct? Reform Qualified Immunity” 2015. Above the Law. 

Instead, police officers have recourse to the broad protections 

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if we want to see justice done, we should push to make it happen.

SROs must be held legally accountable to stop violence against students

Democracy Now. 2015. http://www.democracynow.org/2015/10/28/texas_student_spent_52_days_in

Noe Niño de Rivera, a 17-year-old Texas student 

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almost as if they were tasing them for sport.

Limiting qualified immunity allows meaningful judicial scrutiny of police actions and makes broad policy changes possible, meaning the aff’s small step forward is necessary to start changing the institution as a whole

Bernick, Evan. "To Hold Police Accountable, Don't Give Them Immunity." FEE Freeman Article. N.p., 06 May 2015. Web. 08 Nov. 2016.

Qualified immunity shields police misconduct 

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discovery stops, and there is no trial on the merits.

General limits on qualified immunity have historically been unsuccessful, a limit based on the type of officer rather than across the board is more effective 

De Stefan, Lindsey, "“No Man Is Above the Law and No Man Is Below It:” How Qualified Immunity Reform Could Create Accountability and Curb Widespread Police Misconduct" (2016). Law School Student Scholarship. Paper 850.

The Court could also accept that its attempts at a general standard for all 

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and be inclined to alter course somewhat. 

Adv 1- the pipeline

Violent policing in schools causes irreparable harms to youth, fueling the school to prison pipeline and robbing children of their opportunity to learn and thrive

Laura L. Finley, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Barry University. “An Examination of Human Rights Violations in U.S. High Schools.”January 2011.

Flooding schools with police officers has the direct effect of pushing children 

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given worse punishments for the same offenses.

Police accountability reforms in schools limits excessive policing and allows students to learn in a safe and supportive environment

Hinger, Sarah. "Police Accountability Doesn't Stop at the Schoolhouse Door." American Civil Liberties Union. N.p., 2016. Web. 

Police officers, including school resource officers, are increasingly present in our schools

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to policing within our schools.

Adv 2- symbolic violence 

Educators construct fears of students as potential criminals and impose repressive policies as a result.  This symbolic criminalization leads to actual criminalization by SROs and cyclical abuse and violence 

Laura L. Finley, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Barry University. “An Examination of Human Rights Violations in U.S. High Schools.”January 2011.

Zero tolerance laws and corporal punishment, for instance

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and at worst, mistreatment and abuse.

Limiting qualified immunity allows more civil suits to go forward and challenges the notion that egregious police violence is acceptable. Civil suits are uniquely key to accountability. 

De Stefan, Lindsey, "“No Man Is Above the Law and No Man Is Below It:” How Qualified Immunity Reform Could Create Accountability and Curb Widespread Police Misconduct" (2016). Law School Student Scholarship. Paper 850.

By beginning to mend the qualified immunity doctrine in these ways

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most immediate way to rebuild trust and begin healing the citizenpolice relationship.

Adv 3- safe education is radical education

Critical education utilizes a pedagogy of freedom and so aids in the formation of identities and ideas crucial for undermining oppression and establishing a radical, true democracy.  

Giroux, Henry. “Radical Democracy Against Cultures of Violence.” Truthout. 2013. 

educational forces are crucial to produce the formative cultures capable 

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to be thoughtfully engaged and socially responsible citizens of the world.