NCJ Number
125085
Journal
Crime to Court: Police Officer's Handbook Dated: (March 1990) Pages: 1-4
Date Published
1990
Length
4 pages
Annotation
The case, Kennedy v. Los Angeles, involves the lawfulness of the body-cavity strip search of pretrial detainees.
Abstract
The pretrial detainee has a constitutional right not to be subjected to treatment that can reasonably be construed as punishment. Not having been convicted of a crime, the detainee may not be punished for having committed it. On the other hand, police and custodial officers are under a duty to keep prisoners in custody, to protect them from harm from other prisoners, and to prevent them from harming others. The defendant, Karen Kennedy, was arrested for grand theft, a felony, and forced to submit to a body-cavity strip search which revealed nothing. Subsequently, she brought a civil rights action against the Los Angeles Police Department. The case reached the jury, which after determining that Kennedy's rights were violated, awarded her compensatory punitive damages. The jury also determined that Kennedy's constitutional rights were violated because of the city of Los Angeles' policy to subject all those arrested for felonies to a body-cavity search.