The 4th Amendment : Conducting Searches and Seizures while Protecting Citizen’s Rights Peer Review

In the video, we see a student confronted by a security officer and the school principal. The student is accused of "suspicious" behavior, specifically wandering around the school and entering classrooms without permission. The security officer and principal claim that the student's behavior is enough to warrant a search of his backpack.

This scenario has some similarities to the Terry v. Ohio case. In both cases, law enforcement officers are confronted with behavior that they deem suspicious but not enough to meet the standard for probable cause (Tyler, 2021). In Terry v. Ohio, the officers observed Terry walking back and forth before a store, looking into the window several times, and then meeting with another man. In the video, the security officer and principal observe the student wandering around the school and entering classrooms without permission.

However, there are also fundamental differences between the two cases. In Terry v. Ohio, the officers had reasonable suspicion that Terry was about to commit a crime, specifically, robbery. In the video, the security officer and principal do not have any reason to suspect that the student is about to commit a crime. They only describe his behavior as suspicious.

The security officer and principal in the video do not have sufficient grounds to search the student's backpack. The behavior they describe is certainly suspicious, but it does not rise to the reasonable suspicion required for a search (Braga, Welsh, & Schnell, 2019). The student has not been seen doing anything illegal or harmful, nor has he been acting aggressively or threateningly toward others. Therefore, it would violate the student's right to search his backpack without probable cause.

Law enforcement officers and school officials must be aware of the legal standards for searches and seizures. The Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution protects its citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures (Tyler, 2021). Reasonable suspicion is not enough to justify a search. Instead, law enforcement officers and school officials must have probable cause to search. This means they must have a reasonable basis to believe that a crime has been committed, is being committed, or is about to be committed.

The student's behavior in the video is suspicious but does not rise to the level of reasonable suspicion required for a search. The security officer and principal do not have sufficient grounds to search the student's backpack, and doing so would violate the student's Fourth Amendment rights. It is important for law enforcement officers and school officials to understand the legal standards for searches and seizures to avoid violating the rights of citizens.

References

Braga, A. A., Welsh, B. C., & Schnell, C. (2019). Can the police change the situation? Results from a randomized experiment with the Minneapolis police department. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 56(4), 479-514. doi: 10.1177/0022427818796469

Tyler, T. R. (2021). Procedural justice and police legitimacy. Annual Review of Law and Social Science, 17(1), 135-151. doi: 10.1146/annurev-lawsocsci-102620-025950