Help With This ?
Question by klmf: Help with this ?
A 14 year old girl was caught smoking in a locker room in Piscataway High School. It was against school rules to smoke on school grounds. When the principal talked to her, he also searched her purse and found cigarette rolling papers indicating marijuana use, searching further he also found a pipe and several empty plastic bags. Other things in her purse indicated that she was selling marijuana. The cops were notified and took the 14 year old to police headquaters. In juvenile court the girl was declared a dilinquent and received probation.
The 14 year olds case raised the question of whether the fourth amendment required school officials to meet the same strict standards as police officers where conducting searches of students property in school. The 4th amendment states that a warrant must be obtained before searching an individuals property. The principal had not obtained a search warrant before searching the girls purse. Therefore he could not use the evidence in court.
If you were a supreme court judge who favor would u be in the 14 year old or the state of new jersey, state reasons and try to point out where in the Constitution it says that.
Best answer:
Answer by Brad
i hate doing your homework – but…
schools are property that is owned by A) the state or B) a private enterprise and they may have the right to search and seizure just as a retail store does for theft deterrence. most schools districts have that in the signed code of conduct.
also, we are talking about a minor and rights and possession become fuzzy when referring to a minor under care of the state (school).
finally, schools are mostly “drug free zones” and Marshall Law is literally imposed on school property.
we should legalize all victimless crimes, but for people who sell/give drugs to minors we should put them in jail for a minimum of 200 years. and i mean a jail, not a country club. a jail under the penn penal code.
Answer by grannynightgown
This is an actual case: New Jersey v. T.L.O. 469 U.S. 325 (1985). The case was taken all the way to the US Supreme Court, who upheld the school’s right to search students under reasonable suspicion.
There is a slew of unanswered questions in your question.
Most schools have a policy that states students are subject to search, otherwise the student is not accepted.
There may also be question of temporary guardianship while a minor is in school.
My guess is that this is not gonna get anywhere near a Supreme Court of any type (state or national) because juvenile courts don’t adhere to due process anyway.
A juvenile, because they are not held to the same standard of blameworthiness as a adult, are not given the same rights as an adult.