The Legal Aid Society is representing a father and son who are featured in a piece by THE CITY addressing the confiscation of minors’ phones and the impact that it has on their ability to access their education and organize their lives – as well as the practice’s potential for extracting data from the phone without a warrant.

The father said he hasn’t seen any evidence a judge issued a warrant to search the device, which is typically returned to a child if the device is not marked as evidence.

“I don’t understand how that is even possible,” said the father, whose name is being withheld to protect his son’s identity. “Like, was that [a law] that was passed that nobody knows? Or is this really a legal procedure? . . . All you’re doing is hurting the child, man, you making it worse.”