[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Essay on Student Rights on Search and Seizure
Laws have become the most complex in recent history. The United States Supreme Court and a few U.S. Appeals Courts have decided cases that revolve around this complexity. Several judicial reviews have been handed down in this article to form a guideline for the police who affect search and seizures upon individuals and vehicles. These laws will greatly benefit both the law enforcement officer and the common person if a situation ever arises where these laws must be enacted. Probable cause is most often at the center of a search and seizure. Technically, probable cause means - apparent and reliable facts that create a reasonable belief that a crime has been or is being committed.
Search and seizure in the public schools has long been a problem for both school authorities and law-enforcement officers. Students have also been known to have been deprived of their constitutional rights. Much of the problem stems from a lack of clarity in the application of the Fourth Amendment to the school setting.
With an alarming increase of drugs and weapons at American schools, school personnel have stepped up their efforts to search for contraband on campus in order to provide a safe environment for all students. Despite court-imposed safeguards on students' constitutional rights, school officials have greater leeway in conducting searches than do police officers. Since 1985 when the T.L.O. Court established the reasonable suspicions standard, court decisions have helped to further define what constitutes an appropriate search on school campuses (Beckham, 1992).
The Fourth Amendment provides, 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............
