The state herein appeals from the trial court’s grant of the juvenile subject’s motion to suppress. The evidence suppressed was a manila envelope of marijuana, obtained in this fashion: another student at Telfair County High School, who had given such tips before, told the assistant principal, Mr. Banks, that he had just seen J. T. with marijuana on her person. Mr. Banks got J. T. from her classroom and brought her to his office where, in the presence of his secretary, he told J. T. to “empty her pockets.” J. T. did so and produced the packet of marijuana. Immediately Mr. Banks left the room and called J. T.’s parents. As the trial court found, the police then arrived and advised J. T. of her Miranda rights. Held:
The trial court specifically ruled, and we agree, that this case is governed by the decision in
State v. Young,
However, the trial court further held that “the facts unquestionably show that the manner in which this evidence was obtained violated the constitutional right of [J. T.] not to be compelled to give testimony against herself,” under Article I, Section I, Paragraph XIII of the Constitution of Georgia of 1976 (Code Ann. § 2-113). This finding is in error.
“The essential element in the provision of the bill of rights against self-incrimination (Code Ann. § 2-106) is that no one shall be
compelled
to give evidence tending to incriminate himself.”
Whippler v. State,
It is true that, as the appellee observes, the courts and legislature have gone to greater lengths to protect the rights of children, but it must not be imagined that in so doing they have enlarged for children the constitutional rights invested in adults and citizens generally. In fact, certain constitutional rights of students in schools have been recognized by the U. S. Supreme Court (Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Comm. School Dist.,
Judgment reversed.
