If law enforcement officials and members of private security teams are going to be held accountable for unlawful strip searches , it is important for anyone who has been the victim of a potentially illegal strip search to learn more about options for filing a claim. An experienced lawyer with a history of winning constitutional rights cases can help.
Contact our award-winning law firm to find out if you can file an illegal strip search case. The Fourth Amendment of the U.
Constitution protects against unreasonable searches. The text of the Fourth Amendment reads:. Generally speaking, in order for a search to be lawful under the Fourth Amendment, a law enforcement official conducting a search generally must have probable cause.
Probable cause is something more than reasonable suspicion, which is required for a police officer to stop a person in the street. Yet when it comes to a strip search, the determination of reasonable suspicion or probable cause may not even apply if the person being searched does not have a reasonable expectation of privacy.
Ultimately, the initial test is whether the person being searched had a reasonable or legitimate expectation of privacy, and whether or not that expectation of privacy was reasonable. Only if there is a reasonable expectation of privacy does the searcher need to show that there was probable cause for the search. To be clear, in order to have full protections under the Fourth Amendment, a person must have a reasonable or legitimate expectation of privacy—either of their property or their person.
Some people, according to federal court decisions, do not have a reasonable or legitimate expectation of privacy. In other cases, the lack of a reasonable expectation of privacy is a function of where the person is, such as in an airport, where national security considerations are said to outweigh reasonable expectations of individual privacy.
When it comes to strip searches, there is a long court history concerning the rights of privacy that people have or do not have, as the case often is under the Fourth Amendment:.
Wolfish , the U. Supreme Court ruled that it is reasonable for prisons to conduct body cavity searches following inmate contact with visitors, and that these body cavity searches conducted under these conditions do not require a showing of probable cause. Palmer , the U. Supreme Court ruled that prison inmates do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to their possessions in their prison cells.
As such, the Court ruled that Fourth Amendment protections do not apply when it comes to questions of searches in prison cells. While this case did not apply specifically to strip searches or similar searches, it laid the groundwork for subsequent courts to determine that prisoners lack a reasonable expectation of privacy, including in strip search cases. Board of Chosen Freeholders , the U. Supreme Court ruled that blanket strip searches in jails and prisons, regardless of whether there is reasonable suspicion or probable cause, are lawful under the Fourth Amendment.
The Court also clarified that blanket strip searches do not violate the Fourth Amendment even when they are conducted on pre-trial detainees or inmates charged with or convicted of minor offenses. In sum, Florence said that, under federal law, jail and prison inmates, even those who have not been convicted, can be subject to a blanket strip search policy without violating the Fourth Amendment. The Florence decision has been cited in subsequent court cases as justification for further limiting Fourth Amendment rights of detainees and inmates.
At the same time, Florence does not permit strip searches that are conducted for reasons that are unlawful. A strip search that targets a specific inmate for reasons that are not directly related to the security interests of the corrections facility, or a strip search that targets an individual or group based on unlawful discrimination or harassment, is not permitted under Florence.
These U. Supreme Court cases largely address whether a detainee or inmate in a corrections facility has a reasonable expectation of privacy. It is important to consider the issue of a reasonable expectation of privacy from the point of arrest to imprisonment in a corrections facility.
Yet even outside these contexts, you should know that many people are illegally strip searched by police even prior to an arrest.
In these situations, it is important to know that you likely do still have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and the police officer must have probable cause to conduct a search under the Fourth Amendment. In order to understand what constitutes an illegal strip search, it is critical to learn more about the definitions of a strip search that exist.
Different parties may have varying definitions of what constitutes a strip search. The following are some specific cases that have clarified the definition of a strip search:. Many people also frequently experience a sense of shame or humiliation during the process or after the strip search is complete.
Thus, due to its personal nature, a strip search must be supported by reasonable suspicion before law enforcement can perform one.
Although the Fourth Amendment to the U. In general, a strip search is usually considered to be unlawful when any of the following events occur:. Some courts have raised concerns over whether a strip search can be used against persons who have not yet been charged with a crime. Many jurisdictions have ruled that it is inappropriate to strip search an individual if they have not been lawfully arrested for a crime.
This guideline is especially true if the strip search is unrelated to the type of criminal activity involved. For example, it is usually inappropriate for the police to perform a strip search on a person when ticketing them for a simple traffic violation.
For example, allowing the police to perform a strip search on only those inmates who they suspect are smuggling drugs or other illegal items. As such, an individual who has undergone a strip search may want to consult with a criminal defense lawyer about the incident because it might have been performed unlawfully or for inappropriate reasons. Many persons have had success in past lawsuits based on unconstitutional strip searches. Strip search scams have become increasingly common over the past decade.
A strip search scam is a scenario where a person commits the crime of fraud by posing as a law enforcement officer. They will then stage a fake stop or arrest of another individual, and subject them to a strip search. In the past, this type of fraudulent scheme has been taken advantage of by seriously corrupt individuals; some of whom are sex offenders.
Therefore, if law enforcement is requesting that a person submit to a strip search wherein something about the situation seems reasonably wrong, the person might want to ask the officer to verify that they are actually a legitimate police officer before they perform the search e.
To lighten such a tough situation further, the person may want to express their concerns over such strip search scams and they may also want to request that another police officer be present during the search if possible.
A good indication of when something about the situation may be off is if the strip search is performed in a secluded area with no witnesses or other law enforcement personnel present. This could potentially be a sign that the search being done is not lawful and is in fact the result of a strip search scam. Delaney and Kristina M. Kahlon and Aron C. Thomas and Michael P.
Neifach and Otieno B. Porzio and Joshua S. Bryan What a Deal! Ferrante and Nathaniel M. Porzio and Elizabeth A. Bourne and Daniel J. Ferrante and Jana L. Kolarik Judge Leonard P. Lovitch and Rachel E. Ryu and Connor J. Leahy and Stacey A. Fehling and Michael S.
Updates from the Fifth Circuit and Yuengert and J. Cohen and Mark E. Howell and Christi A. Harrison and T. Dobry and Eric J. Miller and Tinny T. Another Case Demonstrates the Barnes and Whitney Bly Edwards, Ph. Cohen and David R. Loring and Sara A. Cooper and Robert A. Friel and Glenn A. Gottshall and Janet R. Srinivasa and Peighton M.
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