Colson v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

1 district · 2 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 3 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “1. When a convicted person sentenced to pay a fine defaults in the payment thereof or of any installment, the court, upon the motion of the official to whom the money is payable, as provided in section 1303, or upon its own motion, may require him to show cause why he should not be sentenced to be imprisoned for nonpayment and may issue a summons or a warrant of arrest for his appearance. Unless such person shows that his default was not attributable to a wilful refusal to obey the order of the court or to a failure on his part to make a good faith effort to obtain the funds required for the payment, the court shall find that his default was unexcused and may order him imprisoned until the fine or a specified part thereof is paid. The term of imprisonment for such unexcused nonpayment of the fine shall be specified in the court’s order and shall not exceed one day for each $5 of the fine or 6 months, whichever is the shorter. When a fine is imposed on an organization, it is the duty of the person or persons authorized to make disbursements from the assets of the organization to pay it from such assets and failure so to do may be punishable under this section. A person imprisoned for nonpayment of a fine shall be given credit towards its payment for each day that he is in the custody of the department, at the rate specified in the court’s order. He shall also be given credit for each day that he has been detained as a result of an arrest warrant issued pursuant to this section”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. 646 F. Supp. 102 - Colson v. Joyce