Reply With Quote
Anyone, any time?
Supreme Court OKs strip searches for even minor offenses
Washington-- The Supreme Court refused Monday to limit strip searches of new jail inmates, even those arrested for minor traffic offenses.
Dividing 5-4 along ideological lines, the high court said jail guards needed the full authority to closely search everyone who is entering a jail in order to maintain safety and security.
It would be “unworkable,” said Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, to make an exception for persons who are arrested for minor offenses. County jails often must process hundreds of new inmates a day, he said.
"Experience shows that people arrested for minor offense have tried to smuggle prohibited items into jail," Kennedy said. And officials cannot take such a risk, he added.
The decision is a defeat for civil liberties groups and a New Jersey man who was strip-searched twice after he was stopped on a highway and taken to jail over an unpaid fine.
Albert Florence was held for six days and finally released when he showed the fine had already been paid before he was arrested. He then sued county jail officials for violating his privacy and subjecting him to a humiliating strip search.
A judge ruled in his favor, but he lost before the U.S. Court of Appeals. In delivering his opinion, Kennedy said violent criminals sometimes are arrested for minor traffic offenses.
He cited the example of Timothy McVeigh,the man who bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995. He was stopped and taken to jail for a traffic violation. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr.and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito Jr. joined with Kennedy.
In dissent, Justice Stephen G. Breyer said it was unreasonable to subject possibly innocent persons to humiliating searches, particularly when they are not suspected of a serious crime.
"In my view, such a search of an individual arrested for a minor offense that does not involve drugs or violence is an unreasonable search forbidden by the 4th Amendment," he wrote. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan agreed.
http://mobile.latimes.com/p.p?m=b&a=...%3D0%26DPL%3D3
====
America is ed and Un able (c)
Strip searching is already abused, now the Repugs approve the police strip searching any juicy DUI teen chick.
Last edited by boutons_deux; 04-02-2012 at 03:09 PM.
Anyone, any time?
I see it just as a simple security issue. The only way they know for sure that dangerous items aren't getting into the jail (even accidentally) is to search everyone.
Wouldn't it be discriminatory to strip search the black gang banger and not search the white suburbanite kid busted for shoplifting?
Unless they build a separate jail for misdemeanor violators, it's really hard to argue against strip searching everyone coming in.
one is a crime....the other is just a prank
The usual pitiful twisting and lying from you
Zactly.
people are willing to lose their civil liberties so easily. Just look at this thread, most didn't see an issue. Until for some traffic misunderstanding they will be spreading their ass cheeks for all officers to see.
Don't be willing to so easily lose your liberties people. Wake up
Chief Justice wrote a concurring opinion that wants to limit the search to people entereing general population I believe.
May all you right-wing assholes, your girlfriends, mothers, daughters be stripped search repeatedly.
lol @ hatebot
I'll bet Boutons hated the showers in PE.
You right-wingers and families who support this Repug decision deserve to be strip searched.
the sad thing about this is most regular folk don't know what they are really giving up for their so called fake "security"
the police state is growing. and the common folk doesn't care.
pfft
It's just a strip search
bein nekkid ain't no big deal.
that's what's sad. Just because an average Joe doesn't mind being strip searched, doesn't mean our young men/women, mothers and grandmas need to be subjected to this.
tell that to the poor old lady who got injured while being strip searched:
your 18 year old daughter or your wife being strip searched by male cops, or while male cops watch female cops do the strip search is no big deal for you, ok.
btw, CC and similar ilk, strip searching includes cavity searching (vagina and anus) for "security".
and you can be sure the sicko cops will have their phone cameras snapping away.
Are you for absolutely no strip searches on anyone arrested?
Are you saying you didn't enjoy it?...
I'm against the loss of civil liberties of citizens. Why should a person lose their civil liberties for "allegedly" minor traffic/other offenses?
strip search is an invasive procedure.
Does the fourth amendment mean anything at all anymore?
the police state does not want to bother with such nuances as supported probable cause, or judicially approved warrants. You know, things like following the law of the land.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Posting Permissions
