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Greene County circuit judge speaks with Missouri State University ‘Criminal Law and the Courts’ class

22 March 2018

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Judge Jason Brown, a circuit judge in the 31st Judicial Circuit (Greene County) took over teaching duties last night in the “Criminal Law and the Courts” class at Missouri State University in Springfield.

Judge Jason Brown speaks to MSU class.
“ Brown focused his discussion on the role judges play in our society and the challenges they face in deciding tough cases. The case he presented to the class was Safford v. Redding, an examination of a controversial Fourth Amendment confrontation that occurred when school officials performed a strip search of a 13-year-old student suspected of bringing drugs to school. The presentation not only examined the specific facts of Savana Redding’s case, but it also explored the broader question of the Fourth Amendment applicability in a school setting.
One of my favorite parts of this presentation is the opportunity it provides the audience to ‘be the judge,’ weighing the constitutional limits placed on schools against their efforts to battle the serious problem of drugs in schools,” Brown said. “After weighing the arguments the student and the school presented, and trying to anticipate how the United States Supreme Court decided the case, I then challenged the students’ imaginations by asking them to consider whether their decision might have been different had the facts been slightly different.”

The professor reported later the students provided very positive feedback about the presentation, remarking how much they enjoyed Brown’s visit. He has served as a circuit judge in the 31st circuit since July 2015 and previously served as an associate circuit judge in Greene County.

Brown is just one of many judges throughout the state participating in the Supreme Court of Missouri civic education committee’s “Have Gavel, Will Travel” program, and “The Challenge of Deciding Tough Cases: Safford v. Redding” is just one of about a dozen presentations available. To request a presentation in your school or community, please visit https://www.courts.mo.gov/CivicEducation/presentations/.

Judge Jason Brown (far right) meets with the MSU 'Criminal Law and the Courts' class March 21, 2018.

For more information about the activities of the Supreme Court of Missouri’s Committee on Civic Education, please visit News & Media.