Court Case Analysis

The cartoon depicts an innocent little girl with a backpack walking into her house and telling her mother

No school today, Mom! The metal detectors are down. This cartoon was exaggerated for dramatic effect: I

found no cases of schools closing due to down metal detectors, and who would believe that any classmate of

this sweet little girl would carry a weapon to school? Nationally, metal detectors are typically more used in

middle schools and high schools while younger grades may opt to use hand held detectors. But certain

elementary schools in cities like Chicago and Indianapolis have begun to transition to walk through detectors

due to a rise in school related violence. Heightened security measures, like metal detectors, are being placed in

K 12 schools more frequently after the attacks at Columbine High School.

In 1999 two seniors at Columbine High School went on a rampage, killing thirteen and injuring twenty

one. This event sparked controversy and debate regarding gun control and violence involving youth. The

columbine effects were widespread through-out the country and grade levels and included heightened security

measures: security guards, see-through backpacks, school issued ID badges, and metal detectors. Though

school related violence has declined considerably (violent crimes in 2007 were half the recorded rate in 1994)

according to The United States Department of Justice, several of these effects are still in place in many high

schools as well as elementary schools across the United States.

Some challenge the use of metal detectors in schools arguing that the Fourth Amendment protects people

from unwarranted searches. It states The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and

effects, against unreasonable searches 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. Those that challenge metal detectors in schools argue that it is an infringement

upon their right to be secure in their persons, that their (metal detectors) usage is a form of unreasonable

unwarranted search. Students have the right to a free appropriate education, but does that come at the expense

of their personal freedoms, or their safety?

A Supreme Court ruling in the appealed New Jersey v T.L.O, 469 U.S. 325 (1985) was a major

precedent maker in the debate over student searches. A student, Tracy Lois Odem, was found to be holding
paraphernalia after the principal searched her purse. She was brought to court, but the student in retort claimed

the search was a violation of her Fourth Amendment right to a reasonable search. The court ruling was founded

upon the idea of searches based on individualized suspicion. The court felt the principal had probable cause for

searching Tracy and that the search did not violate her rights.

In People v. Latasha W. (1998) a California court upheld the use of metal detectors to protect students,

and faculty. A high school student, Latasha W., was searched after she set off a metal detector while entering

school. She held in her possession a knife with a blade measuring longer than 2.5 inches. The court charged

her with holding a weapon on school grounds and rejected her motion saying the knife was unlawfully seized.

The court determined that metal detectors are upheld in the absence of individualized suspicion, also given the

schools interest in keeping weapons off campus and the minimally intrusive nature of the searches.

Several other cases have ruled against the Fourth Amendment challenge including: State v. J.A. , 679 So.

2d 316 (Fla. App. 1996) in which the state upheld the usage of a metal detector search followed by a pat down.

In People v. Dukes , 580 N.Y.S.2d 850 (N.Y. City Crim. Ct. 1992) ruled that a students rights were not violated

when she was subjected to a metal detector search without individualized suspicion. And in People v. Pruitt, et.

al. (1996) 278 Ill.App.3d 194, 200, 214 Ill.Dec. 974, 978, 662 N.E.2d 540, 544 a student set off the metal

detector and the subsequent pat down revealing the student was carrying a gun was found to not violate their

Fourth Amendment rights.

The debate on student searches will rage on in courtrooms as long as violence in school is still an issue.

In more recent decisions: in 2009 the Supreme Court found that Arizona school officials violated a thirteen year

old girls rights when they strip searched her looking for prescription strength ibuprofen they had suspicion she

was hiding in her underwear. The court ruled 8 - 1 that such an intrusive search is unlawful without a threat of

clear danger to other students or to faculty. This suit could hold precedent and be referenced if (more likely

when) courts hear a case claiming metal detectors to be a unlawful intrusion upon a minors.