NCJ Number
110476
Journal
Southern Illinois University Law Journal Volume: 1985 Issue: 2 Dated: (1985) Pages: 263-283
Date Published
1986
Length
21 pages
Annotation
The Supreme Court should extend the fourth amendment exclusionary rule to public school searches and should modify its current 'reasonable suspicion' standard to protect students' constitutional rights.
Abstract
A number of courts have held that in-school searches conducted by school authorities are not protected under the fourth amendment because the school authorities are acting in loco parentis. A minority of courts have held that the fourth amendment applies in full to school searches. The majority of State courts, however, has authorized warrantless searches by school officials when they are supported by a reasonable suspicion that the search will reveal evidence of broken school discipline rules or a violation of the law. In 1985 the Supreme Court upheld the use of the reasonable suspicion standard in a school search case entitled New Jersey v. T.L.O. The Supreme Court's adoption of the reasonable suspicion standard is too liberal and open-ended, and should be modified to justify searches only on the bases of suspicions of illegal conduct or serious infractions of school rules. Further, exclusionary rule should be applied to school searches in order to help prevent unreasonable searches of students and to ensure that the courts do not become accomplices to illegal conduct. 119 footnotes.