349 Pa. Super. 415 - Commonwealth v. Wolfe’s Empirical Analysis
1986
Citation profile
38 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 38 later decisions — most recently October 2008 · most notably Commonwealth v. Dickerson (1993), 349 Pa. Super. 583 - Commonwealth v. Mourar (1986)
38 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 Atlantic Richfield Co. v. Newman Oil Co. · State v. Linam · Wanstreet v. Bordenkircher · State v. Rastopsoff · 125 Pa. Super. 407 - Commonwealth v. Sutton
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 38 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“[i]t was not intended that the heavier penalty prescribed for the commission of a second offense should descend upon anyone except the incorrigible one, who after being reproved, “still hardenth his neck.” If the heavier penalty prescribed for the second violation ... is visited upon the one who has not had the benefit of the reproof of a first conviction, then the purpose of the statute is lost.”
5 later decisions quote this exact passage“Legislation authorizing the imposition of increased punishment on recidivists is directed at those who persist in criminality after having once been convicted of an offense. It is thus generally essential that the alleged conviction shall have preceded the date of the offense for which the increased punishment is sought to be imposed.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage“[w]hen a criminal statute is susceptible of two constructions, both reasonable, it is not the construction that is supported by the greater reason that is to prevail but the one that operates in favor of the defendant’s liberty, and if there is doubt, the defendant must be given the benefit of the doubt.”
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.