NCJ Number
136284
Date Published
1990
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Schools that lack a written behavior and discipline policy or a search and seizure policy should draft one in conjunction with a school attorney, give one to students to sign and keep, and make sure that searches are conducted in accordance with students' basic constitutional rights as well as current court opinions on student searches.
Abstract
Recent judicial opinions have generally upheld the legality of searches, provided that they were handled in a manner consistent with the standards set by the United States Supreme Court in New Jersey v. T.L.O. According to these standards, these searches must be based on reasonable suspicion that the student has violated school rules or the law, those responsible for conducting the search must be able to state clearly which school rule or law has been violated, the information must be recent and credible, and the search must be reasonable in scope. Conversely, school officials may be liable for violating students' constitutional rights if they knew or should have known that their actions violated students' rights and acted with malicious intent to deprive students of their rights. Therefore, they should become familiar with cases involving locker searches, strip searches, searches by probation officers, the use of dogs to detect drugs, drug testing, and the use of metal detectors. Sources of further information, 12 reference notes, and lists of 10 articles and 15 court cases are included.