A LEGAL ANALYSIS OF THE PREVAILING LAW OF SEARCH AND SEIZURE IN PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS (FOURTH AMENDMENT, EXCLUSIONARY RULE, STUDENT SEARCHES)

The purpose of this study was to determine the current legal status of public elementary and secondary school students' fourth amendment search and seizure rights. The purpose was achieved through an analysis of all reported court decisions of search and seizure in the elementary and secondary public schools. From the reported cases critical questions defining students' fourth amendment rights were developed and analyzed, and legal principles were identified and categorized. The broad questions answered by the analysis were: (1) Do students have constitutional rights? (2) Do students have fourth amendment rights in school? (3) Are school officials private individuals or state agents for purposes of the fourth amendment application? (4) What are reasonable school searches?;The study revealed: (1) Students have fourth amendment rights specifically, and constitutional rights in general while in school though both are diminished by the school-student relationship. (2) School officials are state agents, and their actions fall under the purview of the fourth amendment. (3) Reasonable school searches may be conducted without warrants, provided reasonable suspicion is present and the search is not excessively intrusive. (4) Increased intrusiveness and/or police involvement usually raise the level of suspicion to probable cause. (5) Students may be searched for violations of the law or of school rules. (6) The "dog search," the application of the exclusionary rule, requirement of individualized suspicion, privacy rights of students in lockers or desks, administrative consent given to police to search, and whether or not student automobiles can be searched are areas of the law still evolving.;The design of the study was based on a legal, case analysis approach in which all reported cases were analyzed and categorized according to the legal principles addressed in the opinions. Lower court opinions were compared to the Supreme Court opinion in New Jersey v. T.L.O., the first public school case with fourth amendment implications to be reviewed by the Court.