In a 5-4 vote, Supreme Court justices have sided with law enforcement officials as to the validity of strip searches once a person is under arrest.
The case stemmed from an arrest a New Jersey man named Albert Florence who was forced to undress and submit to a full body search. He was arrested for on a warrant for failure to pay a fine, which later had proven to be paid. Florence believes that since a fine is not a crime but only a violation, he should have not been subjected the body search.
The court believed that safety took precedent over someone’s claim of civil rights violation.
In a dissenting opinion joined by the court’s liberals, Justice Stephen Breyer said strip searches improperly “subject those arrested for minor offenses to serious invasions of their personal privacy.” Breyer said jailers ought to have a reasonable suspicion someone may be hiding something before conducting a strip search.
Will this decision open the door for law enforcement to randomly arrest people under the guise of a routine traffic stop or for littering in the street just to be able to search them? Will the lawful search be limited to finding dangerous weapons or will this be a tool to discover illegal drugs for the police? Only time will tell how this decision will affect the manner in which police use these new powers when dealing with minor violations especially amongst minorities.
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