Supreme Court Ruling Allows Strip Searches for Any Arrest

[Jesus Malverde]

The Supreme Court on Monday ruled by a 5-to-4 vote that officials may strip-search people arrested for any offense, however minor, before admitting them to jails even if the officials have no reason to suspect the presence of contraband.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by the court’s conservative wing, wrote that courts are in no position to second-guess the judgments of correctional officials who must consider not only the possibility of smuggled weapons and drugs, but also public health and information about gang affiliations.

“Every detainee who will be admitted to the general population may be required to undergo a close visual inspection while undressed,” Justice Kennedy wrote, adding that about 13 million people are admitted each year to the nation’s jails.

According to opinions in the lower courts, people may be strip-searched after arrests for violating a leash law, driving without a license and failing to pay child support. Citing examples from briefs submitted to the Supreme Court, Justice Breyer wrote that people have been subjected to “the humiliation of a visual strip search” after being arrested for driving with a noisy muffler, failing to use a turn signal and riding a bicycle without an audible bell.

A nun was strip-searched, he wrote, after an arrest for trespassing during an antiwar demonstration.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/03/us/justices-approve-strip-searches-for-any-offense.html

[quinnox]

1. More fascism from the Supreme court Nazis

Scalia, Thomas, and that crowd are disgusting!

[mindwalker_i]

2. "Citing examples from briefs submitted to the Supreme Court"

Is this a freudian slip?

[Jesus Malverde]

3. Good catch...nt

[WinkyDink]

5. They allowed the removal of that, too.

[Niceguy1]

4. when it applies to this quote

“Every detainee who will be admitted to the general population may be required to undergo a close visual inspection while undressed,

this I can agree to due to the security needs of a prison to prevent weapons drugs and most of all cell phones from the being introduced into the prison

[okaawhatever]

7. They're also looking for gang affiliation tattoos. They don't house one gang with

another because of fighting/killing. I think the bigger question has more to do with why these people are being put into the jail population for these minor offenses. Strip searching for the safety of inmates and correctional guards is understandable. Having someone being put inside the jail for a minor offense is the bigger problem. The strip search isn't designed to be the punishment for the crime, it's designed for safety, but when the system allows people with minor offenses to be jailed it becomes part of the punishment. Two areas need to be reformed, the treatment of the jailed/imprisoned, and the number being sent there in the first place. Even those who don't support the civil rights issue (like neo-cons) should support reform strictly from a cost standpoint. When does paying the money to book, process and jail someone for a minor offense become the fiscally responsible solution to these crimes? Geez, you know something is bad when there are elements that both liberals and neo-cons can support.

[Baitball Blogger]

6. This will last until the day they strip search a 1 percenter.