NCJ Number
107920
Journal
Journal of Juvenile Law Volume: 9 Issue: 2 Dated: (1985) Pages: 360-364
Date Published
1985
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Recent developments in the area of balancing the administrator's duty to keep campuses free of drugs and the civil and constitutional rights of students are illustrated by two recent cases in which students have sought redress under civil rights laws for drug searches conducted by schools.
Abstract
The Oregon case of Bilbrey v. Brown involved two fifth-graders who were searched by the principal and a teacher after a school bus driver observed the juveniles conduct a transaction on the school playground. Bilbrey underwent a strip search. The lawsuit sought declaratory relief, damages, and injunctive relief. The court held that neither reasonable cause nor probably cause existed for the search. The jury decided that the defendants were entitled to the 'good faith' immunity from monetary damages. However, the appellate court set aside the immunity, ruling that the defendants should have shown that they reasonably but mistakenly believed that they had cause for the search and that they reasonably believed that the students had legally consented to the search. In Kuehn v. Renton School District No. 403, a Washington student protested a school district's policy of having parent chaperones search student luggage before a school trip. The appellate court upheld schools' rights to make searches on lower standards than required for law enforcement officials, but ruled that the school official did not have a 'reasonable belief' that drugs and alcohol would be found in the luggage of the individual student. In both these cases, the exclusionary rule did not apply, because no contraband was found. Thus, both used civil rights actions for redress. 34 footnotes.