Commonwealth v. Gaffney’s Empirical Analysis
1997
Citation profile
15 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 15 later decisions — most recently October 2014
15 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.
Relationships
Relies on Kansas v. Hendricks · United States v. Ursery · Calder et Wife, v. Bull et Wife. · Commonwealth v. Riggins · Commonwealth v. Edmunds
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 15 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“(A) "proportionality — whether the remedial purpose of [the measure] ... can explain all the adverse effects on those involved,” (B) whether the measure has been historically considered punishment, and (C) whether the measure serves both a remedial and a deterrent purpose. If question (C) is answered in the affirmative, then a measure will be considered punitive if: (a) the "deterrent purpose is an unnecessary complement to the measure’s salutary operation,” (b) "the measure is operating in an unusual manner inconsistent with its historically mixed purposes," or (c) "the deterrent purpose overwhelms the salutary purpose."”
3 later decisions quote this exact passage“automatically terminate our inquiry. To the contrary, it is well settled that “here in Pennsylvania.. .it is both important and necessary that we undertake an independent analysis of the Pennsylvania Constitution, each time a provision of that fundamental document is implicated.” [Commonwealth v.] Edmunds, [ 526 Pa. 374, 389 ], 586 A.2d [887] at 894 [894-95]. Where there is a compelling reason to do so, we are to construe the Pennsylvania Constitution as providing greater rights than the federal constitution. Interest of B.C., 453 Pa.Super. 294 , 683 A.2d 919, 927 (1996) (citing Commonwealth v. Gray, 509 Pa. 476, 484-85 , 503 A.2d 921, 926 (1985)).”
1 later decision quote this exact passage“(1) the legislature's actual purpose is punishment, (2) the `objective' purpose is punishment, or (3) the effect of the statute is so harsh that `as a matter of degree' it constitutes punishment.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage
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.