Virtual Strip Searches at Airports: Are Border Searches Seeing Through the Fourth Amendment?

Authors

Stephen Viña

Publication Date

3-1-2002

Document Type

Comment

Abstract

This Comment explores the government's use of Body Scan Imaging Technology as a constitutionally valid means of ensuring public safety, provided that it is conducted based on a reasonable suspicion in order to protect an individual's expectation of privacy. Part II details the creation, use, and criticism of the new Body Scan technology. Part III provides a brief history of Customs authority at our borders and discusses the interpretation of the judicial term "reasonableness" as it is applied through various types of searches and government policies at our international borders. Part IV argues that the Body Scan should be viewed as a non-routine border search and secures this determination through the Vega-Barvo x-ray test.8 Part V evaluates various levels of suspicion and counter-arguments for the implementation of the Body Scan. Part VI concludes that the Body Scan is a type of non-routine border search and will best secure an individual's expectation of privacy by applying reasonable suspicion as the appropriate judicial standard. Under this analysis, the Body Scan is a constitutionally "reasonable" method to search individuals at our borders within the bounds of the Fourth Amendment.

DOI

10.37419/TWLR.V8.I2.5

First Page

417

Last Page

439

Recommended Citation

Stephen Viña, Virtual Strip Searches at Airports: Are Border Searches Seeing Through the Fourth Amendment?, 8 Tex. Wesleyan L. Rev. 417 (2002).
Available at: https://doi.org/10.37419/TWLR.V8.I2.5