Helm v. Solem’s Empirical Analysis
684 F.2d 582 · 1982
Citation profile
4 federal appellate · 6 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 13 later decisions (1 by the Supreme Court) — most recently August 2016
4 federal appellate · 6 state decisions
Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.
Appellate journey
Relationships
Applies 21 U.S.C. § 848 (§ 408 of the Controlled Substances Act)
Relies on Morrissey v. Brewer · Rose v. Lundy · Woodson v. North Carolina · Trop v. Dulles · Rummel v. Estelle
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 13 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“A life sentence without parole differs qualitatively from a sentence for a term of years or a life sentence with the prospect of parole.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the majority“The statistics indicate that 22 prisoners in the South Dakota penitentiary had their life sentences commuted between 1964 and 1975. The statistics, however, do not indicate what percentage of requests during this same time period were denied. Moreover, since 1975, the Governor of South Dakota has commuted no life sentences but has denied requests for commutation of life sentences from 25 prisoners[.]”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissent“When a defendant has been convicted of at least three prior convictions [ sic ] in addition to the principal felony, the sentence for the principal felony shall be enhanced to the sentence for a Class 1 felony.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the dissente.g. Solem v. Helm
How this case has been treated — in progress
Whether each later court followed, distinguished, criticized, or overruled this decision. The treatment classification (task #35) runs highest-cited cases first and lights up here as it reaches this one.