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How Has the Court Decided Cases Involving the Elements of Violent Crimes Since 1991?
Last time, we took a close look at the workers compensation cases the Court has decided since 1991. Now let's turn our attention to the criminal docket – specifically, the Court's decisions involving the elements of violent crimes. The Court's cases have been almost equally distributed by winner below – 49.47% of the Court's cases were won by the prosecution below. Of course, the reversal rates differ radically – the Court has reversed only 27.66% of prosecution wins it's heard, but has reversed 81.25% of the defendants' wins.
First, we address the prosecution wins affirmed by the Court. The Court affirmed once in 1991, twice in 1994, once in 1995, twice in 1996, once in 1997 and 1998, seven times in 2000, twice in 2001, once in 2002, twice in 2003 and 2004, once in 2005, four times in 2007, once in 2011 and 2012, three times in 2014 and once each in 2016 and 2017.
The Court reversed no prosecution wins in violent crimes cases from 1991 to 1997. The Court reversed once in 1998, 2000 and 2005, twice in 2007 and 2009, once in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and three times in 2017.
Affirmances of defense wins have been few and far between – one per year in 1994, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2005, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016.
The Court reversed three defendants' wins in 1992, one in 1993, 1994, 1996 and 1997, three more in 1999, one in 2000, three in 2001, two in 2002, one in 2003, two in 2004, one in 2005, three in 2006, two in 2007 and one in 2008. The Court reversed five defendants' wins in 2009, one in 2010, two in 2012, four in 2013 and one in 2014.
For the entire period, the Court has reversed in 57.89% of its cases involving the elements of violent crimes. The Court reversed in six of ten cases between 1991 and 1995, 40.91% of its cases between 1996 and 2000 and 52.63% of its cases between 2001 and 2005. Between 2006 and 2010, the Court reversed in 85.71% of its violent crime cases. Since 2010, the Court has reversed in 52.17% of its cases.
Join us back here later this week as we turn our attention to another two areas of the Court's docket.
Image courtesy of Flickr by Dawn Ellner (no changes).