NCJ Number
166769
Journal
Children's Legal Rights Journal Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1996) Pages: 7-13
Date Published
1996
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision in Vernonia School District v. Acton has given school officials the power to conduct warrantless random searches without violating the Fourth Amendment; the Court held that public school districts could randomly test student athletes for drugs without violating these students' constitutional rights.
Abstract
This decision came 10 years after the landmark decision in New Jersey v. T.L.O., which gave school officials great leeway to conduct searches on school grounds. The Vernonia case related to a school district's decision to establish random urinalysis testing of students taking part in interscholastic athletes. The testing resulted from allegations of widespread rebellion and chaos resulting from drug use. Athletes testing positive received a light punishment consisting of sitting out a few games. The Vernonia decision relied on the communal nature of the public school experience as an excuse for school authorities to ignore children's privacy interests in favor of discipline. The reasoning could be interpreted to permit random testing of all students. The reasoning is flawed in crucial areas. In addition, although random blanket searches are an efficient way to detect students' drug use, the light punishment sends the wrong message to children by indicating a relatively high tolerance for drug use. Reference notes