Juvenile Delinquency case law quiz

New Jersey v. TLO

Issue: Can schools search without a warrant

Background: 14yr girl was found smoking in the girl's restroom and was require to have her bag search.

Ruling: Students are protected under the 4th amend. But establish school officials only need "Reasonable grounds" for a search as the court recognized the need to preserve an environment to education and to secure the safety of the students.

Vernonia v. Acton

Issue: Do drug tests violate 4th amend right.

Holding" No, the USSC allowed drug testing of student athletes going off campus to engage in events. Drug use is serious threat to public safety that interferes with the right of children to receive a decent and safe education. It outweigh the minor inconvenience and loss of personal privacy.

Safford v. Redding

Issue: Does it violate the 4th amend right to strip search without sufficient suspicion.

Background: 13yr girl old honor student was blamed for giving another classmate prescription ibuprofen pill that the student was found to have. She was stripped down for a search and no drugs were found.

Ruling: Trial court said it was reasonable, Appellate court reverse it, USSC court said: 4th amend was violated, searches must be "reasonably related to the objectives of the search and not excessively intrusive in the light of age and sex of the student and the nature of the infraction. "

Family Education Right and Privacy Act (1974)

Restricts disclosure of info. from student educ. records without parental consent.

American School Act (1994)

Congress allowed education system to disclose educ record if:

State law authorizes disclosure

To a juvenile justice agency relates to justice system ability to provide pre-adjudication services to a student

State or local officials certify in writing that the institution or individual receiving the information has agreed not to disclose it to a third party other than another juvenile justice system agency.

Tinker v. Des Moines

Issue: Does a suspension for passive speech in school violate 1st amendment free speech?

Background: 3 HS student were suspended for wearing black armband to protest the war in Vietnam.

Ruling: Yes, unless it can be shown that the conduct will cause a substantial disruption of education and interfere with discipline

Bethel v. Fraser

Issue: is prohibiting a student from using inappropriate language at school a violation of active speech?

Ruling: No, USSC upheld school's right to discipline students for using profane language and gestures. School has the right to control offensive speech that undermine the educational mission.

Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier

Issue: Can school officials censor articles in a student publication

Background: Student censor a student article on their experiences with pregnancy and parental divorce

Holding: Yes, court held that censorship is justified b/c school sponsored publications are part of the curriculum and therefore designed to impact knowledge.

Morse v. Frederick

Issue: Does it violate a students 1st amend. free speech right if school official censor symbolic speech off school grounds and suspends the student.

Background: Student unveiled a 14ft banner saying "Bong hit for Jesus" outside the school and was suspended

Ruling: USSC concluded free speech was not violated because it was reasonable to conclude that the banner promoted illegal drug use

Layshock v. Hermitage School District

Issue: Did the suspension violate the 1st amendment for speech practice in cyberspaces

Background. Student was suspended for 10 days after creating a parody profile of his school principal, majority of which was joking about his size and weight.

Holding: Yes, trial court ruled in favor of the student finding that self-expression originating outside the schoolhouse did not disturb the school environment and was not related to any school sponsored event.

Santa Fe v. Doe

Issue: Is prohibiting student led prayer a violation of 1st amend. freedom of speech?

Background: Elective office of student council chaplain would delivered a prayer over the public address system before each varsity football game. Was modified to permit only nonsectarian nonproselytizing prayer.

Ruling: USSC that prayer led by an "elected" student undermine the protection of minority viewpoints. Such a system encourages divineness along religious line and threatens the imposition of coercion upon those students not desiring to participate in a religious exercise.

Good News Club v. Milford

Issue: Is denying an after-school bible club a violation of the 1st amend.

Ruling: The court ruled that it was a violation of the first amendment's free speech clause to deny the club access to the school space on the grounds that the club was religious in nature; the school routinely let secular group use it space. The court reasoned that because the club's meetings were held after school hours, were not sponsored by the school and were open to any student who obtained parental consent.

Elk Grove v. Newdow

The court refused to hear a case brought by a CA father contesting the recital of the Pledge of Allegiance because it contains the phrase "Under God" Some justices felt the issue should have been dealt with and dismissed for substantive reasons

Ingraham v. Wright

Held that neither the 8th or 14th Amendment was violated by a teacher's use of corporal punishment to discipline students. The court established the standard that only reasonable discipline is allowed in school systems.

Goss v. Lopez

The USSC ruled that anytime a student is to be suspended for more than 10 days, he or she is entitled to a hearing.

Board of Education v. Earls

Issue: Children participating in nonathletic extracurricular activities have a stronger expectation of privacy than athletes

Ruling: court disagreed, maintaining that students who participate in competitive extracurricular activities voluntarily subject themselves to many of the same intrusions on their privacy as do athletes. The court extended the right to rest for drugs without probable cause to all students as long as the drug-testing policies were "Reasonable."

Doninger v. Niehoff

Issue: Off campus speech

Background: Higher schooler in Connecticut who was barred from student government after she wrote that the superintendent and other school officials were "*********s"

Ruling: In favor of the school, Student's speech must foreseeably created a risk of substantial disruption within the school environment