Research Paper on "Random Locker Searches"
Research Paper 4 pages (1251 words) Sources: 5
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Random locker searches in schools, what issues are at stake here? Student's lockers are supposes to be where the student locks their valves and personal effects to keep others away from them. Lockers are meant to be for the student's privacy. So the questions are:Do schools have the right to conduct random locker searches?
What are 'probable cause' and the 4th Amendment?
Is this an invasion of the student's privacy?
In this paper, all three questions will be answered in regards to random locker searches.
More and more schools across the country are starting to conduct random locker searches. In the 1980's school violence was rampant in most school districts across the country. Davis, Kelsey, Langellier, Mapes, and Rosendahl (2003) in the article "Surveillance in Schools: Safety vs. Person Privacy" give the following statistics as gotten from the National Education Association:
Every school day:
at least 100,000 students bring guns to school.
160,000 students skip classes because they fear physical harm.
40 students are hurt or killed by firearms.
6,250 teachers are threatened with bodily injury.
260 teachers are physically assaulted.
more Americans were killed by handguns between 1990 to 1992 (over
70,000) than were killed in Vietnam during the war (47,364).
Student and faculty safety is a major concern for school administrators.
School administration contends that the lockers are
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Do schools have the right to conduct random locker searches?
Very few court cases have been decided in favor of the student in regards to locker searches. This is especially true if the school has a written or signed policy explaining the policy of locker searches. The Worldlawdirect.com (2004) website article on "School Locker Searches," reports, "The theory posits that unless school districts have written and distributed a locker policy to students, students may have a high expectation of privacy and school authorities may have to meet higher constitutional standards to conduct a locker search." Schools need to have the signatures of the student plus a parent or guardian on file to show they are fully aware of the policy and what it means.
What are 'probable cause' and the 4th Amendment?
Students still have rights and protocols that protect them from unreasonable searches. In an article on the Legalzoom.com website, "School Lockers: What can a teacher search?," Thiagarajah (2006) declares, "The U.S. Supreme Court has also stated that the manner in which the search is conducted must be "reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in light of the age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction." Anything found during a locker search may be used against the student in regards to school status but most courts will not admit the evidence in a criminal trial unless the search is deemed as done with 'probable cause' or 'reasonable suspicion." The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in Utah (2010) gives the following definitions:
Probable cause -- a reasonable ground to suspect that a person has committed a particular crime or that a place contains specific items connected with a crime. Under… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Random Locker Searches" Assignment:
I need a research paper on: The backdrafts of having random locker searches; are you invading someone*****'s personal property, you are going again the 4th Amendment, and you are accusing someone without probable cause. This needs to be four complete pages, double-spaced.
Thank you.
How to Reference "Random Locker Searches" Research Paper in a Bibliography
“Random Locker Searches.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2010, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/random-locker-searches-schools/599024. Accessed 5 Oct 2024.
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