Criminal Justice

Policing, prisons, sentencing, guns, bail — debates over public safety and rights.

The criminal justice debate balances two values that everyone says they support: public safety and individual rights. The conservative case emphasizes deterrence, victim protection, and the social cost of weak prosecution. The liberal case emphasizes due process, racial disparities in enforcement, and the failures of mass incarceration. Bilateral runs the live arguments — bail reform, gun control, the death penalty, sentencing guidelines, qualified immunity — without retreating to slogans on either side.

17 debates

• Should crime victims receive government-funded compensation?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should three-strikes sentencing laws be abolished?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should hate crime laws carry enhanced federal penalties?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should all police officers be required to wear body cameras?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should all currently illegal drugs be decriminalized?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should private prisons be banned?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should mandatory minimum sentencing laws be abolished?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should qualified immunity for police be eliminated?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should police department budgets be cut and reallocated?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should sex work be decriminalized?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should the death penalty be abolished?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should universal background checks be required for all gun purchases?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should cash bail be eliminated?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should the death penalty be ended in the United States?
  Apr 13, 2026
• Should the United States enact stricter federal gun control laws?
  Apr 13, 2026
• A Judge Worried a Proposed Settlement Doesn’t Do Enough to Help Victims. The DOJ Is Still Moving Forward.
  Apr 13, 2026
• Tampa Police Dept. revises its immigration policies following AG’s warning - Florida Phoenix
  Apr 13, 2026