State v. Culver’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

6 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 7 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““We are * * * concerned with more than the governmental interest in investigating crime; in addition, there is the more immediate interest of the police officer in taking steps to assure himself that the person with whom he is dealing is not armed with a weapon that could unexpectedly and fatally be used against him. Certainly it would be unreasonable to require that police officers take unnecessary risks in the performance of their duties. American criminals have a long tradition of armed violence, and every year in this country many law enforcement officers are killed in the line of duty, and thousands more are wounded. Virtually all of these deaths and a substantial portion of the injuries are inflicted with guns and knives. “In view of these facts, we cannot blind ourselves to the need for law enforcement officers to protect themselves and other prospective victims of violence * ‡ * ’>”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. State v. Wausnock

2. “‘ * * * a narrowly drawn authority to permit a reasonable search for weapons for the protection of the police officer, where he has reason to believe that he is dealing with an armed and dangerous individual * * *; the issue is whether a reasonably prudent man in the circumstances would be warranted in the belief that his safety or that of others was in danger. * * * And in determining whether the officer acted reasonably in such circumstances, due weight must be given, not to his inchoate and unparticularized suspicion of ‘hunch,’ but to the specific reasonable inferences which he is entitled to draw from the facts in light of his experience. * * *.’ 88 S.Ct. at 1883 .” 288 A.2d at 282 .”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Bromwell v. State