People v. Thomas’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

5 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 5 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Drawing the line at 18 years of age is subject, of course, to the objections always raised against categorical rules. The qualities that distinguish juveniles from adults do not disappear when an individual turns 18. By the same token, some under 18 have already attained a level of maturity that some adults will never reach. For the reasons we have discussed, however, a line must be drawn. * * * The age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many purposes between childhood and adulthood. It is, we conclude, the age at which the line for death eligibility ought to rest.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. LaPointe

2. “[T]his court has held that where an adult defendant receives a sentence that approaches the span of the defendant's lifetime, that term does not implicate the eight amendment right barring cruel and unusual punishment. Defendant cannot demonstrate otherwise under Miller , Roper , and Graham , which involve capital punishment or life sentences without parole for juvenile offenders.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 2018 IL App (1st) 160030 - People v. Rodriguez

3. “only in the context of the most severe of all criminal penalties,”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. People v. Barnes