{"id":7585,"date":"2023-10-27T15:51:08","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T15:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=7585"},"modified":"2026-09-17T06:14:18","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T13:14:18","slug":"juvenile-consent-to-search-a-cellphone","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/portal.bluetogold.com\/?p=7585","title":{"rendered":"Juvenile Consent to Search a Cellphone"},"content":{"rendered":"

This question comes from an officer in Kansas.\u00a0 What are the requirements for consent<\/a> to search a cellphone?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

What happened when officers asked the kids for their phones?<\/h2>\n

The situation was; several officers stopped some young kids that were suspected of throwing rocks from an overpass onto a car.\u00a0 The officers noticed that they had cell phones, and they asked for consent to search the cell phones for evidence of them throwing rocks and so forth.<\/p>\n

They reasonably believed that if they were up to no good, they would possibly be recording it.\u00a0 The kids were 11, 12, 13, and 12.\u00a0 There were four kids total, and a couple of them offered their cell phones to be viewed and the videos looked at and so forth.<\/p>\n

So the officers got consent from the kids.\u00a0 They looked at the videos and they did not see anything illegal.\u00a0 They gave the phones back and the kids were released.<\/p>\n

Well, later, one of the kids\u2019 moms calls and says, \u201cYou have no right to search my kid\u2019s cell phone without my permission.\u00a0 My son cannot give you permission.\u00a0 That’s my cell phone; I pay for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Can a juvenile consent to a search of their own phone?<\/h2>\n

Now, this officer in Kansas asks, \u201cDid these officers mess up?<\/strong>\u201d\u00a0 And the answer is, \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is legally possible for a juvenile to consent to the search.\u00a0 It does, however, have to be free and voluntary.<\/p>\n

What makes consent free and voluntary?<\/h2>\n

In other words, the person gave consent to search freely of his or her own will.\u00a0 And it was voluntary.\u00a0 There was no gun to the person’s head.\u00a0 So that’s free and voluntary.\u00a0 Also, the requirement is that the person has to have authority to give consent over the things searched. These factors are judged on a totality of the circumstances<\/a>; all the facts come into play.<\/p>\n

The burden of proof is preponderance of the evidence. That is how much proof you need to prove to the court that you had free and voluntary consent.\u00a0 Also, the person giving consent had the authority.\u00a0 And based on the totality of circumstances, can the prosecutor prove by a preponderance of the evidence more likely than not that the consent was free, that those factors are met?<\/p>\n

Is there an age cutoff, and does the parent have to consent too?<\/h2>\n

Well, let’s look at it here.\u00a0 First of all, courts do not have an age cutoff.\u00a0 There are plenty of cases out there where juveniles are consenting to a search.\u00a0 The juvenile has authority over the phone and the juvenile is a user of the phone.\u00a0 The mom can also give consent, but they do not need to track her down.\u00a0 They can get consent from somebody else who can give it.<\/p>\n

The officer who shared the story said that there were no threats.\u00a0 It was just very calm and cordial and they asked the kids to kind of prove that they weren’t up to anything by showing the videos.\u00a0 So there were no threats, there was no harassment.\u00a0 Mom’s consent is not required. They can get it if they want, but it’s not required.<\/p>\n

Based on the answer to this question, we are good to go.\u00a0 This was a valid consent. And if the officers would have found evidence on the phone, not only would we be good, but the officer present could seize the phone as evidence to be used at trial.\u00a0 There you go!<\/p>\n

Related from Blue to Gold<\/h2>\n