Commonwealth v. Brown’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

46 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 46 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “a constitutional sentencing scheme for juvenile homicide defendants must . . . avoid imposing on juvenile defendants any term so lengthy that it could be seen as the functional equivalent of a sentence of life without parole”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. Commonwealth v. LaPlante · State v. Gulley

2. “[tlhe principle behind today's decision seems to be only that because juveniles are different from adults, they must be sentenced differently.... There is no clear reason that principle would not bar all mandatory sentences for juveniles, or any juvenile sentence as harsh as what a similarly situated adult would receive.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Wyatt L. Bear Cloud

3. “The provisions of any statute shall be deemed severable, and if any part of any statute shall be adjudged unconstitutional or invalid, such judgment shall not affect other valid parts thereof”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Ramirez v. Commonwealth