Wisconsin Statutes
Wis. Stat. § 948.50 (2026)
Strip search by school employee
✓ current as of July 2026
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948.50(1)(1) The legislature intends, by enacting this section, to protect pupils from being strip searched. By limiting the coverage of this section, the legislature is not condoning the use of strip searches under other circumstances.
948.50(2)(am)(am) “Private area” means the naked or underwear-clad genitalia, anus, buttocks, or female areola or nipple.
948.50(2)(av)(av) “School” means a public school, parochial or private school, or tribal school, as defined in s. 115.001 (15m), which provides an educational program for one or more grades between kindergarten and grade 12 and which is commonly known as a kindergarten, elementary school, middle school, junior high school, senior high school, or high school.
948.50(2)(b)(b) “Strip search” means a search in which a person’s private area is uncovered and either is exposed to view or is touched by a person conducting the search.
948.50(3)(3) Any official, employee or agent of any school or school district who conducts a strip search of any pupil is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
948.50(4)(a)(a) Is serving a sentence, pursuant to a conviction, in a jail, state prison or house of correction.
948.50(4)(b)(b) Is placed in or transferred to a juvenile correctional facility, as defined in s. 938.02 (10p), or a secured residential care center for children and youth, as defined in s. 938.02 (15g).
948.50(5)(5) This section does not apply to any law enforcement officer conducting a strip search under s. 968.255.
948.50 HistoryHistory: 1983 a. 489; 1987 a. 332 s. 38; Stats. 1987 s. 948.50; 1995 a. 77; 2005 a. 344; 2009 a. 302; 2023 a. 198.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2
cases, 2003–2008 · leading case: State v. Forster, 2003 WI App 29 (Wis. Ct. App. 2003).
State v. Forster, 2003 WI App 29 (Wis. Ct. App. 2003). “For example, Wis. Stat. § 948.50 , which pertains to strip searches by school employees, states: a search in which a person's genitals, pubic area, buttock or anus, or a female person's breast, is uncovered and either is exposed to view or is touched by a person conducting the…”
Redding v. Safford Unified Sch. Dist. No. 1, 531 F.3d 1071 (9th Cir. 2008). “230(3); Wis. Stat. § 948.50 (3). . That the dissent chooses to merge the two searches into one with an increasing degree of intrusiveness does little to advance the analysis of T.”
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