State v. Jackson’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

9 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 9 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “Indeed, there are circumstances where a prosecutor may be ethically required to pursue something other than the most severe sanction. The “responsibility of a public prosecutor differs from that of the usual advocate; his duty is to seek justice, not merely to convict.” I believe this is just such a case. The amount in controversy is so small, and the circumstances of the alleged crime so uncertain, that the instant prosecution and the grossly disproportionate sentence do not further the ends of justice. Compare the $8 Jackson allegedly stole with the burden the taxpayers will bear to keep him incarcerated for the remainder of his life. Today, it costs the state of Louisiana $54 per day, or nearly $20,000 per year, to keep each inmate in prison.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent
   e.g. 78 So. 3d 799 - State v. Caldwell