Legal Question in Civil Rights Law in California
Search of Children's Backpacks
At an afterschool program for children ages K-6 in a local church an adult helper left her cell phone on the counter and it ''disappeared''. The staff immediately identified three children to search on the premise that they were ''likely suspects''. The children refused and called their parents to pick them up. The parent was required to pat down the children and search their backpacks before leaving the building. The rest of the children's backpacks were then searched with their consent but without parents' knowledge or consent. Is this legal? Our pastor has instructed the staff not to do this again.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Search of Children's Backpacks
Both the required search by the parents and the subsequent search are likely legal -- students have a diminished expectation of privacy as compared to the adult population -- there is some recent US Supreme Court case law on this, that can likely be found through a google search. Civil rights have eroded during the Rehnquist court. . . .
Re: Search of Children's Backpacks
Aside from the legal analysis, part of which is that this was a private and not a public institution and the 4th Amendment doesn't apply -- what was done here was merely dumb, and the caretaker was properly chastised. I doubt that a lawsuit (for invasion of privacy, emotional distress, etc.) would go anywhere, because there are no significant damages.
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