Simms v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 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 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The crime of loitering and prowling has two elements: (1) the defendant loitered and prowled “in a place, at a time, or in a manner not usual for law-abiding individuals,” and (2) the loitering occurred under “circumstances that warrant a justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity. Because of its potential for abuse, the loitering statute must be applied with special care. It is not to be used as a “catch-all” provision when there is an insufficient basis for another charge. To satisfy the first element, the state must prove that “the defendant engaged in incipient criminal behavior which law-abiding people do not usually engage in due to the time, place, or manner of the conduct involved.” Such behavior comes close to, but falls short of, the actual commission or attempted commission of a substantive crime. A “vaguely suspicious presence” is insufficient. Rather, the defendant’s behavior must point “toward an imminent breach of the peace or threat to public safety.” Stated another way, there must be a “threat of immediate, future criminal activity.” To satisfy the second element, the state must demonstrate that the loitering occurred under “circumstances that warrant a justifiable and reasonable alarm or immediate concern for the safety of persons or property in the vicinity.” “Among the circumstances which may be considered in determining whether such alarm or immediate concern is warranted is the fact that th”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. W.D. v. State