State v. Silva’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 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 17 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “The common law principle that it is not conduct alone but conduct accompanied by certain specific mental states which concerns, or should concern the law is, to say the least, primordial. A mistaken belief in facts which if they did exist would render an act innocent, negates the requisite mens rea (the state of mind required to establish an element of the offense) and constitutes a defense in criminal prosecutions. This court has recognized the rule allowing a defense to a crime considered malum in se because of a mistake of fact subject to the qualification that the mistake must not be due to the negligence or carelessness of the defendant.[ 11 ] [[Image here]] ... [Judicially constructed strict liability in mid-twentieth century criminal law is an anachronism; it stands as the major bar to rational solution of important social problems. [[Image here]] I agree that it is time to substitute knowledge of sex offenses for emotional fixations and to reform the rules in light of sound principles of penal liability. The judicially construed strict liability which the courts have given the law of mistake, we are free to take away.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. State v. Buch

2. “Nor does the view [expressed by the majority opinion] prevail with the Judicial Council of Hawaii, under whose auspices the proposed draft of the Hawaii Penal Code was propounded. Hawaii Penal Code § 731 (Proposed Draft, 1970). provides in pertinent part: (1) A male commits the offense of rape in the second degree if: [[Image here]] (b) he intentionally engages in sexual intercourse with a female whom he knows is less than 12 years old. (Emphasis added). The Commentary on §§ 730-732 (footnotes omitted) includes the following: The Code’s provisions dealing with a victim under 12 years old is in accord with the lower limit of the age of effective consent under previous Hawaii law. Formerly, in Hawaii, as in many jurisdictions which have not undergone recent revisions of their criminal laws, the actor was held strictly liable with respect to the victim’s age. Such strict liability runs contrary to the general principles of penal liability set forth in Chapter 2, which require a culpable state of mind with respect to each element of an offense.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. State v. Buch