People v. Costello’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

4 federal appellate · 15 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 23 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““A far more limited and logical definition can be obtained by following the dictates of section 5.00 of the Penal Law and construing the statute ‘according to the fair import of [its] terms to promote justice and effect the objects of the law.’ The term ‘prostitution’ itself has a commonly understood meaning, and the use of the term ‘fee’ in the statutory definition is the key to that meaning. The legislature has enacted the section to prohibit commercial exploitation of sexual gratification. The methods of obtaining that gratification are as broad and varied as the term ‘sexual conduct/ but the common understanding of the term ‘prostitution’ involves the areas of sexual intercourse, deviate sexual intercourse, and masturbation. The many nonphysical facets of sexual conduct are defined and regulated by other statutes (e.g., obscenity and exposure of a female).” (Emphasis supplied.) See also: People v. Block, 71 Misc. 2d 714 , 337 N.Y.S. 2d 153 (1972), a massage parlor case, where defendant was found guilty of promoting prostitution.”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Commonwealth v. Israeloff