Thursday, January 19, 2012

New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)


 1. Does the Fourth Amendment protect students from searches by school officials?
 2. Under what circumstances, if any, can school officials search students or their belongings?

Facts of the Case: 
T.L.O. was a fourteen-year-old; she was accused of smoking in the girls' bathroom of her high school. A principal at the school questioned her and searched her purse, yielding a bag of marijuana and other drug paraphernalia.
Question: 
Did the search violate the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments?
Conclusion: 
No. Citing the peculiarities associated with searches on school grounds, the Court abandoned its requirement that searches be conducted only when a "probable cause" exists that an individual has violated the law. The Court used a less strict standard of "reasonableness" to conclude that the search did not violate the Constitution. The presence of rolling papers in the purse gave rise to a reasonable suspicion in the principal's mind that T.L.O. may have been carrying drugs, thus, justifying a more thorough search of the purse.

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