New Jersey vs T.L.O
By Kebdrew Lindeen
In 1984, a 14-year-old female student in a New Jersey High School was found smoking with another student in the bathroom by a school staff member. The staff member brought the girls to the school administration. One of the students admitted to smoking, the other one T.L.O. wouldn’t admit she was smoking. The administrator accused T.L.O. of lying and searched her purse for proof.(United States Courts)
While searching her purse, he found cigarettes and paper to roll cigarettes. He had the thought that T.L.O. was also using marijuana. He kept searching her purse and found a wad of money, drug paraphernalia, a paper with other students’ names on it, plus another paper that looked as if T.L.O. was dealing marijuana. The administrator called the police, who called the girl’s mom. Her mom took her to the police station, where she confessed to selling marijuana.(United States Courts)
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School officials can conduct a warrantless search if a student has evidence of illegal activity or is doing an activity that interferes with school order and discipline. The court changed the ruling on T.L.O. because they said that just having the cigarettes didn’t violate school rules, so they didn’t have a justifiable reason to search her purse.
When the Case went to the Supreme Court, they were supposed to decide if evidence that is unlawfully taken by a school official can be allowed as evidence in a Juvenile Court proceeding. It was argued on March 28, 1984 and on October 2, 1984. They ruled on January 15, 1985. They decided that the Fourth Amendment does apply to school officials because they act as agents of the State. The reasonableness of a search will determine if it is a legal search. They decided that the original search was legal and the continued search was also legal because they had evidence of criminal