Brown v. State’s Empirical Analysis
1977
Citation profile
68 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 68 later decisions — most recently March 2009 · most notably Poindexter v. State (1978), State v. Manley (1985)
68 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Relationships
Relies on Furman v. Georgia · Taylor v. Louisiana · Thiel v. Southern Pacific Co. · Blackburn v. State · Baker v. State
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 68 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“"A reasonable doubt is not a fanciful doubt. It is a doubt which arises from the evidence, the lack of evidence or a conflict in the evidence. "It is a doubt which would disturb the conscience of a resolute and decent person who is sincerely devoted to justice for everyone, without regard to his or her status in life or society."”
5 later decisions quote this exact passagee.g. McGraw v. State · Burgess v. State““If the law gives you discretion in fixing the penalty, then you must discharge that grave responsibility. “The range of penalties, prescribed by law, constitute a scale upon which you should grade the gravity of the defendant’s conduct in the commission of that particular crime. “In so doing, weigh the degree of disregard for the rights of others, the probability of reformation or resumption of criminal conduct, and the necessity of protecting society by deterrent example and by isolating the accused from criminal opportunities. “Do not consider the financial, racial, religious or social status of the accused. “Assess any penalty with resolution but without ill will, favoritism or bias.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage““This instruction did not direct the jury to consider evidence outside the record. . . . Any such interpretation was corrected by Court’s Instruction 4P, which instructed the jury to determine facts only from evidence admitted in open court.””
2 later decisions quote this exact passage
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.