2001 ILLINOIS YOUTH SUMMIT


Dirksen Federal Building, 25th floor, Chicago, IL

120 W. Jefferson, Springfield, IL ¨ Capitol Building, Senate Television Studio ST 71, Washington, DC

May 1, 2001


(All times listed are for the Central Time Zone)


8:30-9:00 Registration
9:00-9:20 Opening Ceremony (Room 2525)
Welcome: Carolyn Pereira, Executive Director, CRFC
  Hon. Marvin E. Aspen, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois
Service Awards: Paula J. Morency, Schiff Hardin & Waite; Chair, CRFC Board of Directors

9:30-10:10 Concurrent Discussions: Survey, Class Work, Service Projects
Students will meet in small groups to discuss their thoughts, feelings, and positions on the issues and proposed policies. Members of the Student Advisory Committee will facilitate the discussion. Each student will chose a position ¾ for, against, or alternative policy ¾ based on survey results, study in the classroom, service projects, personal experience, and group discussion.

Guns (Jessica Chethik, Jessica Ashley) (Room 2541)
Public Morality ( Nisan Chavkin, Joe Mayo) (Room 1743)
Disproportionate Minority Confinement/
      Racial Profiling (Ben Ghess, Cheryl Russell) (Room 2525)


10:10-10:50 Preparing for Meetings with State and Federal Policymakers
Students will re-group based on the position they wish to present in the video-conference. For example, students opposed to trigger-lock legislation will meet together as a group to discuss and finalize their position statement to be presented to policy makers in the video-conference session. Each group member should have one question prepared for the video-conference session.

11:00-1:05 Service Fair and Voter Registration   25th Floor
Representatives from Citizen Advocacy Center, City of Hope, Cook County Clerk's Office, Mikva Challenge, and Public Allies will provide information regarding their organizations.

11:00-1:05 Video-conferences and Lunch  
  Illinois Policymakers
Room 2541 		Federal Policymakers
Room 2525 		Boston Market Lunch
Room 2502
11:00 - 11:35 Public Morality Guns DMC/RP
11:35 - 11:45 Break Break Break
11:45 - 12:20 Guns DMC/RP Public Morality
12:20 - 12:30 Break Break Break
12:30 - 01:05 DMC / RP Public Morality Guns

Illinois Teleconference

In Chicago: Room 2541
In Springfield: 120 W. Jefferson

Illinois Teleconference: Moderator: Patrick Theisen, Director State Government Relations McDonald's Corporation, Chicago
  Anchor: Charley Wheeler, Director of Public Affairs Reporting, University of Illinois, Springfield

Under discussion are the following policy questions:
Public Morality 11:00-11:35
Should the Illinois law that allows for a brief period of silence for all students at the beginning of every school day be amended to require a brief period of silence?

Springfield Panelists: Representative Mark Beaubien (invited)
Representative Barbara Flynn Currie
Senator William Peterson (invited)

Guns 11:45-12:20
Should Illinois require trigger locks on weapons in houses shared by children

Springfield Panelists: Representative Mark Beaubien (invited)
  Representative Barbara Flynn Currie
  Representative Thomas J. Dart
  Senator William Peterson (invited)

DMC/Racial Profiling 12:30-01:05
Should police be allowed to consider race when deciding to stop someone?
Should the automatic transfer provision be repealed so that any youth arrested for violation of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act is treated the same as other youth regardless of the community in which the violation occurs?


Springfield Panelists: Representative Barbara Flynn Currie
  Senator Barack Obama
  Senator William Peterson (invited)

Chicago Panelists: Steve Drizin/Cathryn Stewart, Northwestern University School of Law
  Gerry Ramker, Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
  First Deputy Supt. John R. Thomas, Chicago Police Department



Federal Teleconference

In Chicago: Room 2525
In DC: Room ST 71

Federal Teleconference: Moderator: Ben Ghess, CRFC Board Member, Chicago
  Anchor: John Wilson, Acting Administrator, OJJDP, DC

Under discussion are the following policy questions:
Guns 11:00-11:35
Should Congress enact a law to prohibit anyone under 16 from buying a gun manufacturer's realistic video game that teaches how to load and shoot high caliber guns with the goal of killing as many people as possible?

DC Panelists: U.S. Senator Richard Durbin
U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald

DMC/Racial Profiling 11:45-12:20
Should police be allowed to consider race when deciding to stop someone?

Should states lose federal funding if they cannot justify over-representation of minorities at every stage of their juvenile justice systems?

DC Panelists: Gail Olezene, OJJDP

Chicago Panelists: Maggie Hickey, Office of U.S. Senator Fitzgerald
Adrienne Jones, Office of U.S. Senator Richard Durbin

Public Morality 12:30-01:05
Should Congress make federal funding available to faith-based organizations to provide moral and character education in public schools?


DC Panelists: James Davids, Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives
U.S. Representative Judy Biggert

Chicago Panelist: Craig Mousin, Center for Church/State Studies, DePaul University

1:15-2:00 Town Meeting (Room 2525)
Moderator: Bernard Judge, Law Bulletin Publishing Co.
Final Public Policy Vote
2:00-2:15 Closing Comments (Room 2525)


Thanks to Christine Watkins for coordinating today's event.


The 2001 Illinois Youth Summit is a program of the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago and is part of Youth for Justice, a national violence-prevention initiative sponsored by the United States Department of Justice through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. Funding is provided in part through the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, Office of the Illinois Attorney General and through the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the United States Department of Justice. The views and statements expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority, Youth for Justice, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention of the United States Department of Justice, or any other supporters of the 2001 Illinois Youth Summit.