NCJ Number
111566
Journal
Journal of Law and Education Volume: 16 Issue: 4 Dated: (Fall 1987) Pages: 403-434
Date Published
1987
Length
32 pages
Annotation
A model policy is presented for use by school officials in evaluating how the courts will perceive the particular circumstances in a possible search and seizure situation.
Abstract
The model draws on the U.S. Supreme Court decision in New Jersey v. T.L.O. It considers the interaction of the following three crucial features of search and seizure: (1) the locus of the search, (2) the purpose for the search, and (3) the occasion for the search. The loci of searches can be arranged on a continuum according to the degree of invasion the search involves. The more intrusive the search, the more alert the school official must be to fourth amendment privacy concerns. Similarly, the purpose of a search influences its reasonableness. A search that results in a school warning may be considered reasonable, while the same search may be condemned in a criminal prosecution. The seven possible occasions for a search are, in order of increasing ambiguity, open view, plain view, emergency, consent, administrative, probable cause, and reasonable suspicion. The scalor model incorporates all these concepts, assigning point values to each combination of factors to indicate the degree of risk of conducting an illegal search. Figure, 149 footnotes, and appended sample search and seizure policy.