United States v. Jackson’s Empirical Analysis
835 F.2d 1195 · 1987
Citation profile
37 federal appellate · 1 district · 3 state decisions
How this case has been cited
Cited by 50 later decisions — most recently March 2021 · most notably United States v. Garrett (1990), United States v. Bland (1992)
37 federal appellate · 1 district · 3 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
Applies 1 U.S.C. § 109 · 18 U.S.C. § 2113 · 18 U.S.C. § 922 (Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act) · 18 U.S.C. § 924 · 21 U.S.C. § 841 (§ 401 of the Controlled Substances Act)
Relies on Simmons v. United States · Manson v. Brathwaite · Dorszynski v. United States · Hamm v. City of Rock Hill · Pipefitters Local Union No. 562 v. United States
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 50 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.
“To suppose that if Jackson is fortunate enough to live on in prison into his seventies or eighties it would still be necessary to detain him lest he resume his life of crime after almost a lifetime in prison is too speculative to warrant imprisoning him until he dies of old age. [The 10-year sentence recommended by the probation officer] may well be too short, but it is some indication that imprisonment for the rest of Jackson’s life is too long if the only concern is with the crimes he might commit if he were ever released. The remaining possibility is that this savage sentence is proper pour encourager les autres. Indeed, deterrence is the surest ground for punishment, since retributive norms are so unsettled and since incapacitation may, by removing one offender from the pool of offenders, simply make a career in crime more attractive to someone else, who is balanced on the razor’s edge between criminal and legitimate activity and who now faces reduced competition in the crime “market.” ... ... A civilized society locks up such people until age makes them harmless but it does not keep them in prison until they die.”
2 later decisions quote this exact passage · from the concurrence“(a) an offense that has as an element the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another, or (b) any other offense that is a felony and that, by its nature, involves a substantial risk that physical force against the person or property of another may be used in the course of committing the offense.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority“In the case of a person who violates section 922(g) of this title and has three previous convictions ... for robbery or burglary, or both, such person shall be fined not more than $25,000 and imprisoned not less than fifteen years, and ... such person shall not be eligible for parole with respect to the sentence imposed under this section.”
1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
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.