Man strip searched over traffic fine
This is truly awful:
“In March 2005, Mr. Florence was in the passenger seat of his BMW when a state trooper pulled it over for speeding. His wife, April, was driving. His 4-year-old son, Shamar, was in the back.
The trooper ran a records search, and he found an outstanding warrant based on the supposedly unpaid fine. Mr. Florence showed the trooper the document, but he was arrested anyway.
A failure to pay a fine is not a crime. It is, rather, what New Jersey law calls a nonindictable offense. Mr. Florence was nonetheless held for eight days in two counties on a charge of civil contempt before matters were sorted out.
In the process, he was strip-searched twice.”
This guy, Albert Florence, was sexually assaulted for allegedly not paying a fine on a traffic violation, even though he actually paid it. How could the government of New Jersey think this is okay? Strip searches with no probable cause shouldn’t even be allowed for people convicted of the most serious crimes, let alone people merely accused of crimes, let alone people accused of something that isn’t even a crime.
Very sadly, several courts have upheld such degrading and suspicionless searches, starting with Bell v. Wolfish in 1979, although other courts have ruled that strip searches can only take place when the inmate is reasonably suspected of having weapons or contraband. I hope that the Supreme Court takes Mr. Florence’s case and stands up for human dignity by taking the latter view.