Strip Searches for Minor Offenses? Supreme Court Says Yes!

Should people who are charged with minor offenses be strip searched? That was the question put before the Supreme Court this week. The Case, Florence v. County of Burlington (a.k.a. Florence v. Baord of Chosen Freeholders), involved the following facts:

 Albert W. Florence was driving in a BMW sport-utility vehicle in New Jersey with his wife and three children when he was pulled over for a traffic offense. The officer looked up Florence in the police computer database and discovered an outstanding warrant issued in Essex County. Florence had paid the fine, but the computer erroneously listed an outstanding warrant. Florence was placed under arrest in Burlington County and spent six days in jail before being transfered to Essex County's jail. At both jails, prison guards "conducted a visual inspection of his body, instructing him to open his mouth, lift his tongue, lift his arms, and then lift his genitals." Florence went before a judge and was quickly released from jail.

A deeply divided Supreme Court ruled that strip searches for an inmate admitted to any jail can be strip searched  even if they are charged with a minor offense. Strip searches may be used even if the accused has not appeared before a court. Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, noted that dangerous criminals such as Timothy McVeigh and some of the 9/11 hijackers were stopped for routine traffic offense around the time of their crimes. However, Justice Kennedy did not mention how strip searching would have aided law enforcement in these particular cases.

While both Justice Alito and Justice Roberts joined in the majority holding, they both wrote separate concurring opinions. Both of the Justices were worried about the breadth of the ruling. Justice Alito was specific to state that in this ruling "The Court does not address whether it is always reasonable...to strip search an arrestee before the arrestee’s detention has been reviewed by a judicial officer." Alito's concurring opinion seems to raise significant questions about how the ruling actually applies, as he seems to suggest that the ruling only applies to prisoners in the general population of a jail. He also states that most minor offenders are not held in the general population of a prison and should therefore not be subject to such a search.


The dissenting Justices (Breyer, Ginsburg, Sotomayor, and Kagan) noted that strip searches are an extreme invasion of privacy that should not be used unless the minor offense involved violence or drugs, or in cases where prison officials have "reasonable suspicion"  that the suspect may have contraband.

The Full Supreme Court Opinion: http://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/11pdf/10-945.pdf