Serarch of Students 4th Amendment
Legal searches of students
Phillip Burleson
Western Carolina University
I am sure that most people will agree that the safety of our children is of an upmost importance. Based on the events in the past decade like those of terrorism and the school shootings schools have taken a preventive approach and this can have a big impact on a schools day to day operation. When there is an issue that has come about we learn from it and prevent it from happening again. Many parents hold the school officials accountable with providing the upmost safety for their children. They are defenseless and helpless while in school, so we must protect them with the greatest security. A school can be vulnerable and children should have the right to safety and security. It is means that the children’s right to privacy is limited and that is a sacrifice that they should be willing to give up. So for this fact the schools then falls under the special needs search. They do require a special measure in order to provide protection of their health, safety, and their overall well being. To ensure that public officials can be effective in doing this the courts have established certain criteria that they can follow in regards to searches of schools. The Supreme Court declared that the Fourth Amendment does apply in the school but, due to the fact that the schools interest is to maintain security, order, and provide a good educational environment the full protection of the 4th Amendment does not apply. (Ferdico, Fradella & Totten, 2009) The scopes of the searches are limited and should be reasonable in nature. Random searches are often used to keep contraband from entering the facility. Searches of students and staff can be effective to eliminate items such as guns, drugs, and any other illegal or harmful items. Items that can be searched like lockers are on school property and have no expectation of privacy and can be searched. They are assigned to each student for their own use to
Phillip Burleson
Western Carolina University
I am sure that most people will agree that the safety of our children is of an upmost importance. Based on the events in the past decade like those of terrorism and the school shootings schools have taken a preventive approach and this can have a big impact on a schools day to day operation. When there is an issue that has come about we learn from it and prevent it from happening again. Many parents hold the school officials accountable with providing the upmost safety for their children. They are defenseless and helpless while in school, so we must protect them with the greatest security. A school can be vulnerable and children should have the right to safety and security. It is means that the children’s right to privacy is limited and that is a sacrifice that they should be willing to give up. So for this fact the schools then falls under the special needs search. They do require a special measure in order to provide protection of their health, safety, and their overall well being. To ensure that public officials can be effective in doing this the courts have established certain criteria that they can follow in regards to searches of schools. The Supreme Court declared that the Fourth Amendment does apply in the school but, due to the fact that the schools interest is to maintain security, order, and provide a good educational environment the full protection of the 4th Amendment does not apply. (Ferdico, Fradella & Totten, 2009) The scopes of the searches are limited and should be reasonable in nature. Random searches are often used to keep contraband from entering the facility. Searches of students and staff can be effective to eliminate items such as guns, drugs, and any other illegal or harmful items. Items that can be searched like lockers are on school property and have no expectation of privacy and can be searched. They are assigned to each student for their own use to