Transcript new jersey tlo.ppt

Landmark Cases:
Search and Seizure
New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)
Background Summary:
New Jersey v. T.L.O
Piscataway High School, NJ
 Two girls smoking in the restroom,
one (T.L.O.) denies allegation
 AP, Theodore Choplick instructs
T.L.O. to turn over her purse
 Choplick finds cigarettes, continues
to search, finds rolling papers, and
finds the following items:

A small amount of marijuana
 A pipe
 Empty plastic bags
 Significant amount of one dollar bills
 A list of students who owed T.L.O.
money
 Letters implicating T.L.O

What happened next:
T.L.O.’s mother came to school, and
took her daughter to the police
station
 T.L.O. confessed to the police about
selling marijuana
 T.L.O. wanted the evidence
suppressed because the search
violated the Fourth Amendment

Fourth Amendment
“The right of the people to be secure in
their persons, houses, papers, and
effects, against unreasonable search and
seizures, shall not be violated; and no
warrants shall issue, but upon probable
cause, supported by oath or affirmation,
and particularly describing the place to be
searched, and the persons or things to be
seized.”
Juvenile Court of New Jersey:
Fourth Amendment applies to school
officials
 School official may search if it has
“reasonable suspicion”

• That a crime has occurred
• That a crime will occur
• To maintain school discipline
• To enforce school policies
Question:

How are schools different than the
police when searching individuals?
• Police must use “probable cause” to search
• Schools need only “reasonable suspicion,”
and can search as long as the search is
reasonably conducted
Majority Opinion: Justice White
School officials act as
“representatives of the state”
 Warrants are “unsuited to the school
environment”
 A search at school depends on
“reasonableness”
 Searches at school should “not be
excessively intrusive”

QUESTIONS

Does the search of the purse seem
“reasonable” to you?(2-3)

Could a search like this happen in
our school?(2-3)
Legal or not legal??

You can be searched at prom if they
have reason to think you have been
drinking.

Students tells admin. another
student is selling drugs, so they
search them.