Wisconsin lawmakers introduced a new bill expanding the definition of an illegal strip search during search investigations.
The bill comes in the wake of an incident last February in which the superintendent of the Suring Public School District forced six girls between the ages of 14-17 to be stripped and searched for vape devices. The girls were asked to disrobe down to their underwear. Though the search for vape devices proved successful and was deemed legal under state law, the controversy over the manner of these searches forced the superintendent to resign after the incident.
The basic controversy behind these strip searches is easily understood. The fact that the girls were all minors is further unsettling. Though they were not asked to remove their underwear — making the strip search strictly legal — the searches were against the school district’s policy which states that “under no circumstances” should students be strip searched.
The legislators behind the bill, Rep. David Steffen, Rep. Elijah Behnke and Sen. Eric Wimberger, view the current definition of an illegal strip search to be too narrow. The current definition limits an illegal strip search to the complete exposure of genitalia or private areas. The new bill would expand this definition of an illegal strip search to include underwear-clad areas.
Talk of redefining illegal strip searches prompts further questions about the problematic nature of strip searches more generally. Despite the humiliation and degradation of the victim of a strip search, these searches are commonplace in the U.S. justice system. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court voted 5-4 that strip searches for newly jailed inmates are constitutional, even without suspicion that the subject is in possession of contraband. Essentially, the state is granted a monopoly on this form of assault — without needing any reason for justification.
In the Michigan Journal of Race and Law, Dr. Andre Keeton points out that the effects of this ruling are not felt equally in a context of a disproportionate amount of traffic stops and arrests conducted on Black and Hispanic people. With the “unfettered discretion” to perform strip searches, people of color will likely be subject to an excessive number of strip searches compared to their white counterparts.
Softball: Badgers get back to win column, split four games in Atlanta
It is also impossible to ignore the gender issues that plague strip searches. Though statistics on strip searches in Wisconsin and the U.S. are hazy, historical statistics show that women, especially women of color, are disproportionately targeted for strip searches.
The new Wisconsin bill goes far to protect the dignity of victims of strip searches. The lawmakers behind the bill are aware that even when undergarments remain on, those being strip searched still face humiliation to an unacceptable degree. This change they see as “common-sense.” Yet, given the racial and gendered violence that strip searches empirically breed, the question of whether any kind of strip search should be legal ought to be addressed.
Jack Rogers ([email protected]) is a freshman studying economics and Chinese.
