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Consent to talk to a child in school is not consent to search them, even if a school administrator could consent

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Children have a reasonable expectation of privacy from searches of their bodies while on the premises of their private school. Consent to talk to the children about child abuse is not consent to search their persons for evidence. Michael C. v. Gresbach, 2008 U.S. App. LEXIS 10805 (7th Cir. May 19, 2008): Applied to the case sub judice, the inquiry is whether it was reasonable for Gresbach to believe that Reetz's consent to interview the children included consent to conduct a search of the children's bodies. We find that it was not. Based on Gresbach's representations that she needed to "see the children" to investigate a child abuse allegation, and that Reetz need not be present for the interview, Reetz allowed Gresbach to speak to the children privately in order to obtain their statements about an allegation of child abuse...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 22, 2008 (boomark / email).