Posted on 04/02/2008 3:39:20 PM PDT by neverdem
There are two kinds of people in the world: the kind who think it's perfectly reasonable to strip-search a 13-year-old girl suspected of bringing ibuprofen to school, and the kind who think those people should be kept as far away from children as possible. The first group includes officials at Safford Middle School in Safford, Arizona, who in 2003 forced eighth-grader Savana Redding to prove she was not concealing Advil in her crotch or cleavage.
It also includes two judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, who last fall ruled that the strip search did not violate Savana's Fourth Amendment rights. The full court, which recently heard oral arguments in the case, now has an opportunity to overturn that decision and vote against a legal environment in which schoolchildren are conditioned to believe government agents have the authority to subject people to invasive, humiliating searches on the slightest pretext.
Safford Middle School has a "zero tolerance" policy that prohibits possession of all drugs, including not just alcohol and illegal intoxicants but prescription medications and over-the-counter remedies, "except those for which permission to use in school has been granted." In October 2003, acting on a tip, Vice Principal Kerry Wilson found a few 400-milligram ibuprofen pills (each equivalent to two over-the-counter tablets) and one nonprescription naproxen tablet in the pockets of a student named Marissa, who claimed Savana was her source.
Savana, an honors student with no history of disciplinary trouble or drug problems, said she didn't know anything about the pills and agreed to a search of her backpack, which turned up nothing incriminating. Wilson nevertheless instructed a female secretary to strip-search Savana under the school nurse's supervision, without even bothering to contact the girl's mother.
The secretary had Savana take off all her clothing except her underwear. Then she told her to "pull her bra out and to the side and shake it, exposing her breasts," and "pull her underwear out at the crotch and shake it, exposing her pelvic area." Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between drug warriors and child molesters.
"I was embarrassed and scared," Savana said in an affidavit, "but felt I would be in more trouble if I did not do what they asked. I held my head down so they could not see I was about to cry." She called it "the most humiliating experience I have ever had." Later, she recalled, the principal, Robert Beeman, said "he did not think the strip search was a big deal because they did not find anything."
The U.S. Supreme Court has held that a public school official's search of a student is constitutional if it is "justified at its inception" and "reasonably related in scope to the circumstances which justified the interference in the first place." This search was neither.
When Wilson ordered the search, the only evidence that Savana had violated school policy was the uncorroborated accusation from Marissa, who was in trouble herself and eager to shift the blame. Even Marissa (who had pills in her pockets, not her underwear) did not claim that Savana currently possessed any pills, let alone that she had hidden them under her clothes.
Savana, who was closely supervised after Wilson approached her, did not have an opportunity to stash contraband. As the American Civil Liberties Union puts it, "There was no reason to suspect that a thirteen-year-old honor-roll student with a clean disciplinary record had adopted drug-smuggling practices associated with international narcotrafficking, or to suppose that other middle-school students would willingly consume ibuprofen that was stored in another student's crotch."
The invasiveness of the search also has to be weighed against the evil it was aimed at preventing. "Remember," the school district's lawyer recently told ABC News by way of justification, "this was prescription-strength ibuprofen." It's a good thing the school took swift action, before anyone got unauthorized relief from menstrual cramps.
© Copyright 2008 by Creators Syndicate Inc.
If you said that to some people on this thread, they would strongly disagree. To them the state is to be worshipped.
Sad & too true!
Lots of sharks here on the west coast of Florida. Mostly bull sharks which are extremely aggressive.
Or perhaps tying him down and let the fire ants figure things out. That might work too.
Theres a special place in hell for those who abuse children.
“If you said that to some people on this thread, they would strongly disagree. To them the state is to be worshipped.”
IMO thats why they tend to hate any religion. If Jesus is your king then the state isn’t, and that cannot be tolerated.
Liberals are so stupid they cannot learn from thousands of years of history. They just think the right person hasn’t been in charge yet.
Shoulda said west coast FL before. Tie him up on the beach with half his body in the water. Blue crabs in the gulf come up almost out of the water. They’ll nibble him to death.
I used to live in Fort Walton Beach, close to Eglin AFB.
I agree there is a special place in hell for child abusers. But I don’t mind making hell on earth for them while they still are alive. Fire ants work for me.
She wasn't touched. Read the decision.
There was no need for it.
Unidentified drugs, knives, contraband. Read the decision.
Any normal person not only would have not ordered a girl to strip down
She wasn't ordered. Read the decision.
Never thought of it that way, but you’re right. Those that accept the absolute authority of the state cannot accept the authority of the Lord and vice versa.
She says. No evidence of any such threat.
“She wasn’t touched. Read the decision.”
She was searched.
“Unidentified drugs, knives, contraband. Read the decision.”
huh? They thought she had advil. Where do you get unidentified drugs, knives and contraband. What is contraband anyway? Is that a term they use in police states?
“She wasn’t ordered. Read the decision.”
In a previous post you quoted the story where it said the principal ordered her searched. Now you say she wasn’t. Which is it? Is it your contention that she stripped down and let them look in her underwear because she wanted to?
Write your state legislator.
They never touched her.
“They never touched her.”
The article doesn’t indicate whether they touched her but it would be very likely they touched her arm or shoulder as they led her into the room where she was stripped searched.
Do you understand the difference between touch and search? I’m guessing you don’t as you keep repeating that like its your holy grail.
Good point. If they can’t consent to sex, aren’t allowed to drink or smoke, can’t do a whole bunch of other things legally, then they aren’t old enough to consent to strip searches, or other violations of their privacy. Why should they be forced into a position of having to make this decision?
Besides, I am the legal guardian of my children until they are 18. I am responsible for them and their behavior. If I am responsible for them like that, then there is an obligation on the part of ANYONE dealing with my kids to let me know what they intend to do with or to them.
If I have to give my permission for medical treatment, the ability to get a driving permit, or anything else, they need to get my permission to strip search my child.
I see your point.
He ordered staff. He asked the student. Try to keep up.
If it were my child I would be down at the sheriffs office and then the DA, and perhaps even the state with exactly that argument. If they wouldn’t do something then they would be included in the lawsuit.
Of course the principal would still be feeding the fire ants, gaters, sharks or crabs.
Someone speak with forked tongue.
He won’t answer your questions either.
That's how I'd handle it. Some would let the thug do as he wishes.
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