search & seizure?

Question

would you consider it illegal search & seizure if your daughter had her purse seached without any legit reasons. my daughter is 12 years old & the school suspected she had cigarettes, so they searched her purse. the bad part is she had her female products in her purse and they emptied her purse in front all of the kids (including the boys) which embarressed her. in the end they found no cigarettes. at what point do we say this is illegal search. shoulnd't the parents be present when they search the kids & their personal things. i understand the lockers are the schools property and should be allowed to seach their own property. and i understand the situation with guns in schools. but this was over cigarettes, was this acceptable?

another thing i did talk to the school so this story is what i get from the school and my daughter. their reason for searching her purse was, there was smoke in the girls bathroom when she came out (by the way not the only child in there)

Answer 1

Schools have a much broader range of search power than the police.

I don't consider it illegal.

Answer 2

Unfortunately once the kids are in school they become school property. Now the search should have been done in the principals office with the teacher and someone else present. The schools have a right to search the students property at any time they feel something isn't right or if they suspect of anything. What would be illegal is to seach the person without the parents present, because that means they would be touching the student who is a minor. If you still feel uncomfortable call the school district but remember they will get back to the school and some teachers could take that as ratting them out and get annoying with your daughter also talk to your daughter about it and see what you should do.

Answer 3

Maybe you should ask yourself why they suspected her of having cigarettes in the first place? Doesn't that concern you as a parent? It would be my first concern if my 12 year old came home with a story like that!

And so she had "female products". Who cares - that is nature, and it is also your job as a parent to see that she is comfortable with her own body.

Trust me, if she is using them at 12, and suspected of having cigarettes at school, the boys are taking much more of an interest in her for something other then what is in her purse. Maybe you should start thinking about when she should be carrying certain "male products" in that purse too!

Why not take this as an occasion to go talk with her teachers, get to know them, and take a parenting role in her education instead of treating the school like a free babysitter?

Answer 4

Female products are nothing to be ashamed of! Good grief, my husband will go and get them for me if I need him to.
The real question is why the school felt it was necessary to search in the first place.
Talk to the school, you'll be better off learning the reason they do things by asking THEM.
As for the legality of it, I don't think it's right that they just snatched her purse, and yes they could have done it in the privacy of the office.
Personally what I get from your question is that you are looking for a fight.
Why not just tell your daughter for one, she has no reason to be embarrassed over the 'female products'.
That tho you don't approve the way the school handled the situation, sometimes sadly people do make MISTAKES. They are after all HUMAN.
Then you go down and have a talk with the school principal. Talking is the key here.

Answer 5

It's not justified, even though school may have more power than the police it's called: probable cause or reasonable suspicion. Unless the authority figures had hard evidence of some kind, or if somebody that doesn't hold a grudge against your daughter told the teacher or something then they shouldn't have searched her at all! I think the 4th amendment also can protect her, even in school.

Answer 6

The search was illegal, if she had said "No" and they searched anyway. The problem with schools searching kids is that they often get consent from the kid.

However, 'embarrasment' isn't a cause of action. If they HAD found cigarettes then the police wouldn't have been able to use the results of the search against her if they'd tried to ticket her with MIPT. Since they didn't, it's legally "No harm, no foul"

Richard

Answer 7

The school is not a law enforcement agency so the rules are different. Schools normally have rules that items brought on to school grounds are subject to search. It is not a requirement to have the parents present during a search. It is not even required in many states if the child has been arrested for a crime.

Answer 8

Search and seizure applies to entering private property and seizing possessions without a warrant. Since it was on the school's property, it wouldn't be unlawful search and seizure.

Answer 9

"Acceptable"? Kind of depends on the environment.

Schools have broad powers over their charges (students) that the state otherwise does not have.

I would complain mightily that, though they had the right to do it, that their supposed cause was lame and caused more damage (embarassment) than fixing anything. If they want to do that kind of search, they should certainly do it away from other kids.

Answer 10

there should be school regs available in a school regarding searches . if none is present , i suggest that you write a formal letter to the principal and main schoolboard office, and have areturned receipt requested . if no responce, and all other fails ,talk to an attorney .