'Strip-search' ruling

Law enforcement officials will be disappointed if they were looking for guidance from the U.S. Supreme Court on the matter of "strip-searching" suspects entering jail. The court took on the issue in a New Jersey case but left more questions unanswered than answered.

The court was asked whether the Constitution permits persons brought to jail on minor charges to be stripped and searched. The court ruled that the Fourth Amendment does not bar such searches, but the ruling is frustratingly imprecise about the definition of strip searches and under what conditions they may be unconstitutional.

Fortunately, state law in several states goes further than this ruling to protect suspects' rights.

But state laws can be changed, so the court's strip-search jurisprudence must be considered a work in progress.

The most that can be said is a slim five-justice majority held that persons committed to the general population of a jail may be subjected to a visual-only strip search, even without probable cause that the suspect is carrying weapons or contraband.

Left unanswered is whether that means persons brought in on, say, minor traffic violations could be subject to such a strip search if they are not admitted to the general jail population. Also, the court saved for a future case the question of under what conditions a strip search may include touching by jail officers, such as probing body cavities. Every year more than 13 million people are admitted to jails in this country. Many, if not the majority, are guilty of no crime when they enter. All have constitutional rights. Unfortunately, that is not clear from reading the Supreme Court's strip-search decision.

- The Des Moines (Iowa) Register