Legal Case- Ingram v. Wright (1977)

I recently reviewed a court case, Ingram v. Wright (1977).  This case is about middle school boys who were being paddled by their teacher.  The boys told their parents, who then filed a law suit against the teachers.  The parents claimed that the boys eighth and fourteenth amendments were being violated.  This case went all the way to the Supreme Court.  In the end, the court ruled that students were not protected under the eighth amendment because that was used for criminals, and since students are not criminals, it does not apply to them.  The court did not fear that students would be treated unfairly in the school because there were multiple protections to prevent it.  The court also recognized that if a student was mistreated, the teacher can be punished by the school and local law enforcement.  Students, according to the court justices:  Harry A. Blackmun, Warren E. Burger, Lewis F. Powell, Jr., William H. Rehnquist, and Potter Stewart, were not protected under the fourteenth amendment.  The court argued that the fourteenth amendment is the right to due process before your rights of liberty and freedom are taken away.  Therefore, since students liberty and freedom are not being taken away, this does not apply to them.  This court case also opened the door for other states to make laws or rules regarding their punishment in school.  


Here is a link to my presentation (my first time using prezi- if you haven't used it, check it out): http://prezi.com/sc8ykoepvagg/legal-case/