Strip search case of 13 year old girl reaches supreme court

[Peikko 1,575]

Link

I find this absolutely shocking. They were searching for Ibuprofen!

The search by two female school employees was methodical and humiliating, Ms. Redding said. After she had stripped to her underwear, "they asked me to pull out my bra and move it from side to side," she said. "They made me open my legs and pull out my underwear."

Ms. Redding, an honors student, had no pills. But she had a furious mother and a lawyer, and now her case has reached the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on April 21.

The case will require the justices to consider the thorny question of just how much leeway school officials should have in policing zero-tolerance policies for drugs and violence, and the court is likely to provide important guidance to schools around the nation...

I don't wish schools to be subject to litigation at every turn, but really no 13 year old should be subject to a strip search like this. They could have called the parents and dealt with this with them in attendance, or a nurse or anything but this.

What were they thinking?

Edited March 24, 2009 by Madame Cleo

[fozzie 41]

Link

I find this absolutely shocking. They were searching for Ibuprofen!

The search by two female school employees was methodical and humiliating, Ms. Redding said. After she had stripped to her underwear, “they asked me to pull out my bra and move it from side to side,” she said. “They made me open my legs and pull out my underwear.”

Ms. Redding, an honors student, had no pills. But she had a furious mother and a lawyer, and now her case has reached the Supreme Court, which will hear arguments on April 21.

The case will require the justices to consider the thorny question of just how much leeway school officials should have in policing zero-tolerance policies for drugs and violence, and the court is likely to provide important guidance to schools around the nation...

I don't wish schools to be subject to litigation at every turn, but really no 13 year old should be subject to a strip search like this. They could have called the parents and dealt with this with them in attendance, or a nurse or anything but this.

What were they thinking?

Very thin ice!!!

Zero tolerance maybe, unreasonable search and seizure...I think so.

[Peikko 1,575]

I have a really hard time with how often here in the US children are treated as though they are adults. Ridiculous.

[Niels Bohr 72]

If the school settles for a few million dollars, I'd settle then just bringing it to the supreme court. But, I don't have to be reasonable sound all the time. Whether I'd take the money or it goes to the supreme court, a law is being made regarding school searches.

Edited March 24, 2009 by Niels Bohr

[fozzie 41]

If the school settles for a few million dollars, I'd settle then just bringing it to the supreme court. But, I don't have to be reasonable sound all the time. Whether I'd take the money or it goes to the supreme court, a law is being made regarding school searches.

I think there is a law already about this.

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

[almaty 19]

terrible and a blantant over reaction....yes, sue the ####### facists

[Nagishkaw 510]

Yes, it is shocking !

[thetreble 19]

Absolutely ridiculous. Since when do school teachers have the right to strip search a student, regardless of age? I'd sue.

[_Simpson_ 250]

I have a really hard time with how often here in the US children are treated as though they are adults. Ridiculous.

How often are children treated as adults in the US? Examples?

[Danno 1,228]

First let me say I do not agree with this strip search for an over the counter item.

What we have her is 2 issues.

"Zero tolerance" and a "strip search" of a student.

Both are signs of our school systems entering into a "Martial LAw" or "State of Emergency" phase.

Normal protections of rights give way to maintaining order and safety.

Zero Tolerance- has become the mandatory rule of law or Schools or officials would spend the majority of their day "deciding cases". It makes it so much easier to band even Tylonal .... due to the lack of the schools ability to identify the hundreds of over the counter med.

In earlier times, the Principles phone call to the parent would answer such questions but as any teacher will tell you, the parent today is too often colluding (if not guiding) the students concealment of a wrong doing, so now we have the ZERO TOLERANCE policies.

Strip search- take this threat away and the Schools -NO DRUGS- policy is over, who would not conceal anything from weapons to drugs in their crotch pocket?

Knowing this, bringing these illegal items on campus certainly will increase.

Only the most certain cases would warrant police involvement.

Really it's an endless cycle, as the School is stripped of the ability to act in meaningful ways... the need for action increases.

It's hard to believe we have 13 year old girls being stripped searched in our Public school system, but then again, during Martial-Law, looters are shot on sight, the alternative I guess is even worse.

[Peikko 1,575]

I have a really hard time with how often here in the US children are treated as though they are adults. Ridiculous.

How often are children treated as adults in the US? Examples?

It doesn't happen often, I was being 'dramatic'. However, what the US does that I truly cannot justify is trying children as adults. Either a child is a child and should be treated as a child under all circumstances, or a child is not a child but an adult and should be treated as an adult in all circumstances. What one should not do is treat a child as an adult when it suits some desire for vengeance.

What this case shows is that a child can be treated as an adult (strip searching, I can't imagine that ever being tolerated in any European school, period) while not enjoying the rights of an adult to for example there having to be something more concrete than 'she said he said' as your justification for the search.

My question, should the school suspect a teacher of having drugs, would they subject that same teacher to a strip search? No, they would not have the authority to do so.

The problem isn't that there is an epidemic of 'naughty children with colluding parents' but that schools have backed themselves into a ridiculous corner with their policies, in some instances.

[britbird 4]

Ordinarily I'm not a fan of fining government institutions, because inevitably the tax payer has to pay. But I think this warrants a deterrent fine.

A private citizen (a school secretary for goodness sake! What was she thinking?!?!?) has no training in how to figure out if a search is reasonable, if there is probable cause and all these other lovely legal things, let alone how to do a search. That's what we have police officers for. If they thought a search was warranted they should have 1) called the police and 2) called the child's parents.

If they were worried the child would then hide the pills or ingest them, they should have simply sat the kid in the headteacher's office and watched said child until the parents/police got there.

Sure, if the child had a knife or a gun there would be imminent danger to others. But ibuprofen? Ridiculous.

In this case we actually want the child to be treated as an adult. (in the past children have received lesser forms of constitutional rights. Though there have since been 4th and 5th Amendment cases that have changed that: In Re Winship for instance).

[_Simpson_ 250]

I have a really hard time with how often here in the US children are treated as though they are adults. Ridiculous.

How often are children treated as adults in the US? Examples?

It doesn't happen often, I was being 'dramatic'. However, what the US does that I truly cannot justify is trying children as adults. Either a child is a child and should be treated as a child under all circumstances, or a child is not a child but an adult and should be treated as an adult in all circumstances. What one should not do is treat a child as an adult when it suits some desire for vengeance.

What this case shows is that a child can be treated as an adult (strip searching, I can't imagine that ever being tolerated in any European school, period) while not enjoying the rights of an adult to for example there having to be something more concrete than 'she said he said' as your justification for the search.

My question, should the school suspect a teacher of having drugs, would they subject that same teacher to a strip search? No, they would not have the authority to do so.

The problem isn't that there is an epidemic of 'naughty children with colluding parents' but that schools have backed themselves into a ridiculous corner with their policies, in some instances.

Oh ok I see. I do see your point of view and partly agree. Nothing magical happens on our 18th birthday. I think what is more important is that we take it case by case. For example a 16 or 17 year old, if a court of law can prove that the defendant knew what he/she was doing and had criminal intent then I think that person should be tried as a adult and not get off on a technicality. When it comes to kids under 18 I do think that we need give some extra attention to these cases before we consider trying them as a adult.

[Peikko 1,575]

Are you going to decide on a case by case basis if they should have a driving license? Are allowed to drink? Join the armed forces? Vote? There is a reason we consider those under 18 to be legally children and we can't just simply put those things aside because it's convenient. That's a nonsense.

[_Simpson_ 250]

Are you going to decide on a case by case basis if they should have a driving license? Are allowed to drink? Join the armed forces? Vote? There is a reason we consider those under 18 to be legally children and we can't just simply put those things aside because it's convenient. That's a nonsense.

A crime is different because there is a victim. We cant compare that to voting,armed forces or a drivers license where there is no victim, that is nonsense. Imagine if you lost a loved one and he/she gets off on a technicality even though the same kind of cruel intent was there but it happened he/she was a year or two younger.

Edited March 25, 2009 by looking_up