| Robinson v. California | ||||||||||||
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| Argued April 17, 1962 Decided June 25, 1962 |
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| Holding | ||||||||||||
| Punishing a person for a medical condition is a violation of the Eighth Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment. | ||||||||||||
| Court membership | ||||||||||||
| Chief Justice: Earl Warren Associate Justices: Hugo Black, Felix Frankfurter, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Jr., Charles Evans Whittaker, Potter Stewart |
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| Case opinions | ||||||||||||
| Majority by: Stewart Joined by: Warren, Black, Douglas, Harlan, Brennan, Whittaker Concurrence by: Douglas Concurrence by: Harlan Dissent by: Clark Dissent by: White |
Robinson v. Earl Warren ( March 19, 1891 July 9, 1974) was the 14th Chief Justice of the United States and the only person ever elected thrice Hugo LaFayette Black (February 27 1886&ndashSeptember 25 1971 was an American politician and jurist. Felix Frankfurter ( November 15, 1882 – February 22, 1965) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court William Orville Douglas ( October 16, 1898 – January 19, 1980) was a United States Supreme Court Associate Justice. Thomas Campbell Clark ( September 23, 1899 – June 13, 1977) was United States Attorney General from 1945 to 1949 and an Associate John Marshall Harlan (May 20 1899 – December 29 1971 was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court from 1955 to 1971 William Joseph Brennan Jr ( April 25, 1906 &ndash July 24, 1997) was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the Charles Evans Whittaker ( February 22, 1901 &ndash November 26, 1973) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from Potter Stewart ( January 23 1915 &ndash December 7 1985) was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. California, 370 U.S. 660 (1962), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the use of civil imprisonment as punishment solely for the misdemeanor crime of "using" or being under the influence of a controlled substance was a violation of the Eighth Amendment's protection against cruel and unusual punishment. Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past Court cases either in special series of books called reporters Year 1962 ( MCMLXII) was a Common year starting on Monday (the link is to a full 1962 calendar of the Gregorian calendar. The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the federal judiciary. A controlled substance is generally a drug or chemical whose manufacture possession and use are regulated by a government The Eighth Amendment ( Amendment VIII) to the United States Constitution is part of the United States Bill of Rights which took effect in 1791
The Court ruled that the California law violated the cruel and unusual punishment clause as narcotics addiction "is apparently an illness", and California was attempting to punish people based on being in this state of illness, rather than for any specific act. A person guilty under this law, the Court noted, might never have taken any narcotics at all while in California, nor engaged in any destructive behavior.
Robinson was stopped by a police officer after he noticed apparent "tracks" on Robinson's arms. The officer claimed Robinson admitted that he had occasionally injected narcotics, though Robinson denied this and also denied being an addict. The term narcotic (ναρκωτικός is believed to have been coined by the Greek physician Galen to refer to agents that benumb or deaden causing loss The police arrested him under a California law making it a misdemeanor to "be addicted to the use of narcotics"; Robinson was convicted, and sentenced to 90 days' imprisonment.
The Court wrote that though a 90-day prison sentence itself was neither cruel nor unusual in the abstract, the sentence was out of proportion to the "offense". By way of analogy, it wrote, "Even one day in prison would be a cruel and unusual punishment for the 'crime' of having a common cold. "
With this ruling the court established that in order for one to be charged with a criminal act, it was necessary for one to commit an "act. " The court invalidated a law which made the state of being addicted a crime. Furthermore, it argued that the invalidated law would have Robinson declared a criminal and sent to jail despite the fact that he may have never actually used drugs in the state of California.
In 1968, this case was used to challenge a Texas law against public intoxication, but in the majority opinion by Justice Thurgood Marshall the court upheld the law. Public intoxication, also known as " drunk and disorderly conduct" (sometimes incorrectly as " drunken disorderly " is a Summary offence Thurgood Marshall ( July 2, 1908 – January 24, 1993) was an American Jurist and the first African American In Powell v. Texas, however, the court made the distinction between a public behavior and a physical condition and did not overrule Robinson. Powell v Texas, 392 US 514 (1968 was a United States Supreme Court case which ruled that a Texas statute criminalizing Public intoxication
See also
External links
"Robinson v. California" on Wikisource. This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 370 of the United States Reports: Enochs v Wikisource is a Wikimedia project to build a free, Wiki Library of Source texts along with translations into any language - ^ 370 U.S. 660 Full text of the opinion courtesy of Findlaw. com.
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