NCJ Number
110491
Journal
Oregon Law Review Volume: 64 Issue: 4 Dated: (1986) Pages: 727-738
Date Published
1986
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article examines New Jersey v. T.L.O., a 1984 case in which the Supreme Court recognized for the first time that the fourth amendment prohibits unreasonable searches of students and their possessions by public school officials.
Abstract
In addition, the Court exempted public school searches by school officials from the warrant requirement and the probable cause standard. As a result of the Court's holding in New Jersey v. T.L.O., high school students are only partially protected from illegal searches and seizures. Review of the evolution of the warrant theory under the fourth amendment indicates that the language of the amendment prohibits the issuance of a warrant without probable cause. As the jurisprudence of the fourth amendment developed, a warrantless search was seen as inherently unreasonable. Further, a warrant could not be issued without probable cause -- that is, without sufficient evidence to justify a search. In New Jersey v. T.L.O. the Court recognized that students have a legitimate right to privacy and that searching their personal effects is a substantial invasion of privacy. The students' privacy rights must be balanced against the necessity of maintaining school discipline, the Court said. To achieve that balance, the Court substituted a reasonableness standard for the probable cause standard and said that public school teachers and administrators did not need a warrant to conduct a search based on reasonable suspicion. The author argues that these exceptions to traditional fourth amendment doctrine are likely to undermine fourth amendment protections for students and others. 77 footnotes.