Page 64 - Juvenile Practice is not Child's Play

following standards in assessing whether a search of a student’s person or effects is reasonable and, therefore,

permissible:
1. The search must be reasonable at its inception, which means that the school officials have “reasonable grounds
for suspecting that the search will turn up evidence that the student has violated or is violating either the law

or the rules of the school”; and
2. The search’s scope must be reasonably related to the purpose of the search and not excessively intrusive.
The determination of whether or not a search is excessively intrusive considers the age and sex of the students as well
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as the nature of the infraction.

There are some limits on school searches:
• The search must be justified– there must be a reasonable suspicion that the search will find evidence of a
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violation of the law or of school policy.
• The search conducted must be reasonable in scope – not excessively intrusive in light of student’s age and
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gender– to the circumstances that led to the search in the first place.

Basically, if the search is reasonable under all of the circumstances, the judges will uphold it. Judges have allowed all of
the following searches under our law:
• Searches of lockers, purses, gym bags, and backpacks.
• Searches by metal detectors.

• Dog sniff searches of student bags, lockers, and cars parked on school grounds.
• Breathalyzer use at proms and other extracurricular activities to test for alcohol use.
• Drug testing by urinalysis for participation in sports and other extracurricular activities.
• Pat-downs

Once the school officials start a search, if they find something other than what they were looking for, the search is still
valid. For instance, if your client was patted down looking for cigarettes, and a knife was found, the search is still valid

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even though no cigarettes were actually found. And of course, your client faces arrest for weapon possession.

62 https://law.justia.com/constitution/us/amendment-04/22-public-schools.html
63 Id.
64 Id.
65 https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution-conan/amendment-4/valid-searches-and-seizures-without-warrants