Student Review:

      The subject of this article is the trend of the Supreme Court in allowing suspicionless searches. Prior to Michigan
Department of State Police v. Sitz, 496 U.S. 444 (1990), the Supreme Court had continually asserted that suspicionless
searches were limited to civil or administrative matters and that a search or seizure aimed at enforcement of criminal law
 requires some degree of individualized suspicion. In Sitz, the Supreme Court using a balancing test held that the public
interest in eradicating drunk driving was high, the intrusive nature of the search was low and therefore the suspicionless
search was valid.
        The author contends that the Court's definition of "minimal intrusion" is continually expanding and proposes a narrower definition to apply when the Court considers suspicionless searches. The author proposes the "de minimus" intrusion test. "For this test, the definition of a de minimus intrusion should be converted from the Supreme Court's expansive version of the minimal intrusion to one which includes only brief seizures or intrusions which are non-personal in nature. The balancing test itself must also be altered. For a suspicionless seizure to be reasonable, the opportunity for the exercise of discretion must be minimized and the government must be required to show that the use of the suspicionless intrusion is necessary to accomplish its goals, because no lesser alternatives are available." 31 Am. Crim. L. Rev. 251, 257 (1994). The article makes the argument that at present a test based on the government's motivation i.e. to stop drunk driving, is unprincipled in that it gives more protection to the guilty than the innocent. Additionally, it is unworkable because it leaves the government in control of the decision to intrude by allowing it to define or fabricate its purpose.
        By utilizing the "de minimus" intrusion test the author believes that many of these problems will be solved. If not utilized it is clear that the author fears that suspicionless searches will become more and more of a reality.

Article Summary by: Flint Watt
Wake Forest University School of Law