Debate: School searches of student lockers

(Redirected from Debate:Student Lockers, school right to search)

Do schools have the right to search students lockers?

[Edit]

Background and context

This is a debate about privacy, and the extent to which the state can invade the private life of its
citizens. Although it may seem unimportant, the school locker is usually the only private space
available to a student in the communal environment of the school, and so it focuses many of the
issues involved in privacy debates.
This is usually thought of as an American issue, but it could apply in any country and the
arguments could also be transferred from school lockers to desks and lockers in the adult
workplace. The rights to privacy claimed in this debate find expression in two key documents:
Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary
interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and
reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or
attacks." 4th Amendment to the US Constitution: "The right of the people to be secure in their
persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be
violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation,
and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized." In
the USA this became an issue at the highest level with the 1980 Supreme Court case, New
Jersey v T.L.O. The law differs from state to state as to whether reasonable suspicion is required
before an individual students locker can be searched, or whether blanket/random searches can
be carried out.

Crime: Are locker-search important in fighting student crime?

Yes

No

Locker searches reduce drugs and

weapons in schools, which is in the
interests of all students. The best way to
ensure that such contraband items are found
and removed is for the school authorities
periodically to search a random selection of
student lockers. Even if there is a privacy
issue, students yield that minor right in return
for the wider benefit of safety.
Schools must protect against the use of
lockers in serious crimes. In addition to
general searches of lockers, particular
individuals are often suspected of activity,
often quite serious, that mean teachers need
to inspect their property. Without the ability to
inspect lockers, young criminals will know that

Student locker searches lack "probable

cause". Students should not to be considered
criminal suspects without probable cause. And,
yet, school searches of lockers often lack probable
cause. In the USA, it is therefore contrary to the
Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Elsewhere
it is covered by the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights' guarantee against "arbitrary
interference with privacy".
Medal detectors are a better approach than
locker searches. It is obvious that if students are
faced with the prospect of locker searches, they
will just find another hiding place, or keep things
on their person. The thrust of policy should not be
about finding things once they are in school it
should be about stopping them getting there in the

they can hide forbidden things there without

fear. On the other hand, the possibility of a
search means that students will think twice
before bringing things in to school. Students
may indeed find other hiding places but this
doesnt mean that they should be given total
control over the most obvious hiding place in
school. Other safety techniques such as
metal detectors, sniffer dogs, security guards
may be useful too, but they are not mutually
exclusive to locker searches. All these things
can be used in addition to, not instead of,
locker searches and indeed, a combination
of all of them may yield the most secure
results.

first place. Metal detectors, for example, are fair

because they check everyone (rather than singling
people out) without intruding on them. Students
who are singled out for searches are effectively
and publicly accused of a crime. Occasionally,
something incriminating may be found; almost
always it won't be, but any bond of trust between
school/teacher and student will be broken, and
disaffection is likely to follow.

Privacy: Do searches of student-lockers avoid privacy concerns?

Yes

No

Lockers are school property and,

therefore, subject to any school searches:
Students are merely allowed to use lockers as
they do with sports equipment, library books,
school computers, etc. Lockers can be taken
back without notice, for example if they are
vandalised or become smelly with rotting food.
Students are or should be told that schools
have the right to search their lockers - it is a
part of being in a school community where you
have to accept its rules and responsibilities.
Schools are responsible for student
activities so must be able to search
lockers. This responsibility is placed upon
schools because the students in their charge
are minors - children in the eyes of the law who need more protection than adults. This
same legal status also explains why
constitutional rights to privacy, etc. cannot be
applied absolutely to school students. Schools'
duty of care applies both morally and legally
and they may be open to lawsuits if they don't
take reasonable measures to prevent other
students from bringing drugs or weapons into
school, or to recover stolen property. In both
these cases, searching lockers is an obvious
and reasonable response to a threat to
student welfare.

Schools searching lockers is an invasion of

privacy. Schools should not be able to search
students' lockers unless someone has a bad
school record and has been suspected of doing
something wrong. A lot of schools search students'
lockers for a sense of power...for no reason and
they don't have the right to do it.

Abuse: Can concerns over teacher abuse of locker-searching power

be reduced?

Yes

No

We must trust teachers to perform lockersearches responsibly. Even if the policy

sees a small minority misuse the search
power, the cost is outweighed by the benefit of
greater security and disincentive to smuggle
contraband such as drugs and weapons in to
school.

Many belongings arent illegal but are

nevertheless potentially the source of
embarrassment. For example love letters,
pornography, contraceptives, or medicines.
Teachers can abuse this power to inflict
embarrassment on students they dislike, or may
allow it to influence negatively their attitude to and
treatment of the student concerned.
Denying students a locker increases
dangerous feelings of resentment and
alienation. A sense of alienation and isolation in
the school environment has been at the forefront
of the rise of psychological problems amongst
students resulting in tragedies like Columbine.
Denying students the security of a secure anchor
in this environment, a known reference point
without risk of removal or meddling, means they
are more likely to be adrift and insecure.

Compelling interest? Is the problem compelling, making searches a

compelling interest?
Yes

No

The magnitude of the problem makes

locker-searches a compelling interest. In
the USA, every school day, at least 100,000
students bring guns to school; 160,000
students skip classes because they fear
physical harm; 40 students are hurt or killed
by firearms; 6,250 teachers are threatened
with bodily injury; 260 teachers are physically
assaulted. Is searching someones locker
really a step too far in trying to stop this?

Theres no doubt that there are grave

problems in schools. but we should send a
message to children that we trust them making
them feel like adults. Always suspecting them of
something widens the gulf between the
generations that has caused so much harm in
society. In any case, how often are lockers directly
implicated in the crimes listed opposite? Most
weapons are hidden on the person, and lockers
are hardly involved in assaults on teachers.
Students more likely to carry weapons than
keep in locker. Why would students put their
weapons in their lockers? Wouldn't they just keep
them on their person? For this reason, it doesn't
seem that locker-searches has much solvency for
the problem of students bringing weapons into
school; it looks in the wrong place.