Robinson v. California case brief

 

• Robinson v California- D was convicted under a CA statute which holds a person criminal liable for being “addicted to the use of narcotics.”
  • ISSUE To hold someone criminally liable for something that (1) doesn’t inherently involve an action or (2) something you can’t control
  • Narcotic addiction is a disease which apparently may be contracted innocently or involuntarily. A state law which imprisons a person thus afflicted as a criminal, even though he has never touched any narcotic drug within the State or been guilty of any irregular behavior there inflicts cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the 14^th Amendment.
  • The court finds that since the state of CA recognizes drug addiction as a illness, it would be cruel and unusual to imprison any person, even for one day, just based on their status as a drug abuser
  • Cruel and unusual punishment results not from confinement of the person but from convicting the addict of a crime.
    • Statute too broad b/c it sweeps in crack babies