New Jersey V. T. L. O. Case Study

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The case New Jersey v. T.L.O.(Tracy Lois Odem) is about a fourteen year-old girl who said her fourth amendment rights were violated. Odem and another student were caught smoking in the girls restroom by an administrator. They were then taken to the office and questioned by the principal, where the second student admitted to smoking in the restroom. Odem lied to the principal and he demanded that she gave him her purse to search for cigarettes. As the principal opened her purse he found a pack of cigarettes and cigarette rolling paper which he knew was used to smoke marijuana. He then suspected that she had marijuana on her so he continued to search her purse to see if he found any. In his search he found a small plastic bag that had a grass like substance in it, paraphernalia, a wad of money, a list of people who owed her money ,and a letter that made it look like she was into drugs or dealing. The principal then contacted the local police, who then contacted her mother. Odem’s mother brought her to the police station where she then confessed to selling marijuana. Because, Odem was a juvenile she faced misdemeanor charges. Odem went to the Juvenile Court where she tried to file a motion to keep out the evidence and …show more content…
Also in both cases neither of them had warrants but everything was done to ensure the safety of all the students.
My opinion on Odem’s case is that it was a reasonable search and that there was no need to get a search warrant. When the school official opened up Odem’s purse all of the evidence he found was sitting right there, he did not have to dig to find anything. I believe that the United States Supreme Court made the right decision in justifying what the official found. Also I agree with the punishment that the student got. It was not an unreasonable amount of time to serve on