21 U.S.C. § 850
Section 850 · Information for sentencing
This is § 410 of the Controlled Substances Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case United States v. Patterson (1987)
Most recently applied in 301 F. App'x 137 - United States v. Warner (December 2008)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Except as otherwise provided in this subchapter or section 242a(a) of title 42, no limitation shall be placed on the information concerning the background, character, and conduct of a person convicted of an offense which a court of the United States may receive and consider for the purpose of imposing an appropriate sentence under this subchapter or subchapter II of this chapter.