Commonwealth v. Bruno’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

3 federal appellate · 4 district · 109 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 118 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““any person who has been (i) convicted of or adjudicated as a delinquent juvenile or youthful offender by reason of a sexual offense and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes the person likely to engage in sexual offenses if not confined to a secure facility; (ii) charged with a sexual offense and was determined to be incompetent to stand trial and who suffers from a mental abnormality or personality disorder which makes such person likely to engage in sexual offenses if not confined to a secure facility; or (iii) previously adjudicated as [sexually dangerous] by a court of the commonwealth and whose misconduct in sexual matters indicates a general lack of power to control his sexual impulses, as evidenced by repetitive or compulsive sexual misconduct by either violence against any victim, or aggression against any victim under the age of 16 years, and who, as a result, is likely to attack or otherwise inflict injury on such victims because of his uncontrolled or uncontrollable desires.””

   3 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. In re R.B. · Commonwealth v. Morales

2. ““Whether a person suffers from a mental abnormality or personality defect, as well as the predictive behavioral question of the likelihood that a person suffering from such a condition will commit a sexual offense, are matters beyond the range of ordinary experience and require expert testimony. See Commonwealth v. Crawford, 429 Mass. 60, 67 (1999) (error to exclude expert testimony on posttraumatic stress disorder or battered woman syndrome, as not within common experience of ordinary juror); Commonwealth v. Kirkpatrick, 423 Mass. 436, 447-448 [, cert, denied, 519 U.S. 1015 (1996)] (expert testimony required to explain likelihood of transmission of sexually transmissible disease from defendant to victim, being matter beyond ken of ordinary juror).””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Dube

3. ““the conduct triggering the statute’s application is not the prior conviction of a sexual offense, but the current mental condition of the defendant. . . . The focus of the definition of ‘sexually dangerous person’ and the statute’s various sections relating to the procedures governing commitment is a defendant’s current mental condition.””

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Miller