The student was suspected of bringing prescription strength ibuprofen to school. Following this accusation, the middle school girl was forced to strip down to her bra and underpants, then to pull them away, exposing her pelvic area and breast. Guess what? No drugs were found.
Not only was this outright humiliating for the girl, but it was no doubt scarring and degrading.
This intrusive strip was an extreme violation of her rights, especially as her being a young girl. The problem with this search was that the accusation of having pills (with no more strength than two Advil) did not match the degree of the intrusion, especially considering there was no threat of the specific drug.
This case was reexamined and determined unconditional, referring to the degrading nature of the strip search.
While the zero-policy for drugs should be upheld in schools, the degree and level of enforcing this needs to be reevaluated in favor of a child’s rights. A nude search of a 13-year-old girl is not only an invasion of constitutional rights, but a violation of human dignities.
I can only imagine the embarrassment that the girl still faces today, six years go, and the images still instilled in her brain.
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| Unconstitutional Strip Searches |
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