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D.Ore.: Juvenile detention strip search policy is unconstitutional

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Juvenile detention strip search policy was unconstitutional because of its excessiveness. Mashburn v. Yamhill County, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23969 (D. Ore. March 11, 2010): The YCJDC strip searches are also, to put it charitably, astonishingly thorough. A boy is required "to lift his scrotum so that staff can inspect the area directly below the testicles." (Kraemer Aff. (# 29) Ex. 1 at 2.) If a boy is uncircumcised, "he is instructed by staff to pull back the foreskin so that the area beneath the foreskin can be inspected." (Id.) Girls are required to lift their breasts "so that staff can inspect the area directly below." (Id. at 4.) YCJDC could mitigate the length and intensity of its strip searches by taking steps to ensure that the child is not fully exposed for longer than is reasonably necessary to accomplish its search objectives...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on March 20, 2010 (boomark / email).