Sinclair v. United States’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

21 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 21 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “[S]eizing, confining, inveigling, enticing, decoying, kidnaping, abducting, concealing, or carrying away any individual by any means whatsoever, and holding or detaining, or with the intent to hold or detain, such individual for ransom or reward or otherwise, .”

   4 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Beck v. United States · Robinson v. United States

2. “Although the conduct complained of in this case falls within the literal terms of D.C.Code 1973, § 22-2101, it is also obvious that some type of seizure, detention or confinement is an integral part of every rape. Consequently, we think it unlikely that Congress intended that every person who commits a rape be also charged and convicted of kidnaping, with its generally more severe penal consequences. The facts of each case must be examined to determine whether in fact two separate crimes were committed, or whether they merged. In making this determination, we inquire whether the. asportation (or seizure) in a given case was of the type incidental to every rape or whether the confinement and restraint were significant enough of themselves to warrant an independent prosecution for kidnaping. A like question is whether the ‘kidnaping’ substantially increased the risk of harm over and above that necessarily present in the underlying crime.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Parker v. United States

3. “Had the majority opinion contented itself with the observation that legislative bodies in enacting statutes which define the offense of kidnapping — like the applicable provision of our Code — as covering such conducts as “confining,” “detaining,” or “holding,” did not intend that every conviction for rape or robbery should also carry with it a separate conviction for kidnapping, we could accept this thesis. Obviously, the victims of such felonies are detained against their will while the criminal is accomplishing' his objective. Thus, the detention or confinement, if approximately coextensive in time and place with the crime itself, is an integral element of the crime, and like an “attempt” or a “necessarily included lesser offense” may be viewed as merging with the principal offense in contradistinction to constituting a separate crime. [At 1204.]”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Robinson v. United States