In North America, civil lawsuits, as well as criminal code changes against strip searches have usually been successful when a person is strip-searched by someone of the other gender, especially in cases where a woman has been strip-searched by a male guard or guards. The more disputed legal cases have often involved the presence of persons of the other gender during a strip search. Some of these cases have been less successful because of the legal technicality of who was actually performing the strip search, i.e. if multiple guards are present, the search is often (legally) said to be being performed by the person or persons giving the orders or instructions to the person or persons being searched.
Another legal issue is that of blanket strip searches, such as in jails where arrestees are routinely strip-searched prior to having been found guilty of any crime in a court of law. Courts have often held that blanket strip searches are acceptable only for persons found guilty of a crime. For arrestees pending trial, there must be a reasonable suspicion that the arrestee is in possession of weapons or other contraband before a strip search can be conducted. The same often holds true for other situations such as airport security and customs officers, but the dispute often hinges on what constitutes reasonable suspicion.
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Incidental strip searches
In order to bypass the legal reasonable suspicion requirement, and because strip searches can be humiliating, the search often made less overt, as part of an intake process, that includes a mandatory shower. For example, many homeless shelters require a mandatory shower (supervised) prior to entry. Most prisons also include a mandatory shower along with a change of clothes. The shower serves to make the strip search less blatant as well as providing the additional benefit of removing contamination (in addition to removing weapons or other contraband). The ADCA Diversion Forum (Sobering Up Shelter - DASA, Alice Springs) advises that to keep shelters safe, all personal clothing should be collected from clients and cleaned, along with requiring each client to have a mandatory shower to "discreetly" check for weapons or other contraband. Thus bathing, which is a justifiable necessity, often allows a similar outcome to a strip search with less legal liability, being less actionable when applied to everyone entering a facility, as well as being less offensive to clients than requiring them to undergo what is overtly presented as a strip search.
The courts have often held that requiring a person to have a shower as a condition of entry into a space (such as a prison, shelter, or the like) does not, in itself, constitute a strip search, even if the shower and surrounding space are so constructed as to afford visibility of the unclothed body by guards during the showering process.
Hospitals often also have a mandatory shower, during lockdown, when mass decontamination is called for. Paul Rega, M.D., FACEP has specifically identified mass decontamination as providing the added benefit of checking for weapons or other contraband, as well as searching for clues among the clothes of persons found at a terrorist attack crime scene where it is recognized that the perpetrator(s) could be among the persons detained for decontamination.
2006-06-24 10:46:44
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answer #1
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answered by gaea08 2
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2016-06-12 06:12:08
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answer #2
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answered by ? 3
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2016-08-25 03:20:00
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answer #3
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answered by Florence 3
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A prison guard can search a prisoner, if it is part of his job. A security guard generally just holds onto people until they can be turned over to someone else.
2006-06-24 10:44:04
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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"Security guards" have NO police powers. So the answer is never.The job of a security guard is to "observe and report". If they did a strip search they could be arrested and sent to jail...
2006-06-24 10:46:45
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answer #5
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answered by Kaori 5
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A prisoner can be strip searched if only suspicion falls on him. There has to be at least two guards present
2006-06-24 10:43:17
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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Corrections officer can strip search an inmate when there is probable cause. They still have to do it under the supervision of a Sergeant or above. They can also strip search an inmate upon request of the police or if they are put on self harm status...
2006-06-24 11:21:39
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answer #7
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answered by christy_lee27 2
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Prisoners should be freed.
Security guards should be locked in.
Definition of a Security Guard = Definition of a taxi driver = pure waste of human cells.
2006-06-24 10:48:57
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answer #8
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answered by Rod b 3
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a security guard can not, police can and the prison or correctional officers can. Your mall security would have to call the police
2006-06-24 14:31:32
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answer #9
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answered by Anonymous
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A regular security guard? Like for contract security? NEVER.
2006-06-24 10:43:43
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answer #10
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answered by Anthony S 4
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