Case Citator › Allen v. United States

Allen v. United States

Is it still good law? What later courts have actually done to this case.

Criticized by some courtsin review
193 of 196 flagged citations read · 98.5%
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Citation
164 U.S. 492
Decided
Confirmed treatments
2
Flagged citations read
193 of 196
Citing cases (total)
3,261
Treatment dates
1982–1987
Criticized by some courts · in review
At least one reviewed court has criticized this case’s reasoning. No reviewed court has overruled it. Allen v. United States is still in review, with two confirmed criticisms listed below. Of 196 flagged citations, 193 citing opinions were read.
More on how this was screened

The Eighth and Eleventh Circuits expressed reservations about the Allen charge while continuing to permit it. Nine state courts rejected or criticized that charge under their own law, without changing Allen's federal force. The text needed to assess three citing opinions could not be retrieved, so they remain unread.

The treatments below are confirmed; unread citations could still change the overall status.
Every treatment on this page is written from the citing opinion itself, with a verbatim quote, never copied from a commercial citator. A citation flagged by our screen but not shown here was read and found not to weaken this case.

3,261 later cases cite Allen v. United States; 196 of those citations sat close to treatment language and were flagged for reading; the progress bar above tracks how many have been read so far. Citations that did not sit near treatment language were not flagged and were not read one by one, so a court that weakened this case without using any of that language would not appear here.

Relying on Allen v. United States?

This page shows what later courts did to it. Ask about your specific facts and see whether it still carries your argument, with citations you can check.

Treatments

Criticized

  • The Eighth Circuit said it did not favor the Allen charge, though its precedents continued to permit it and the charge was not inherently coercive.

    United States v. Reed · Eighth Circuit · filed

    Although we do not favor the charge and have suggested that it preferably be given in the main body of the regular instructions, we have nonetheless repeatedly rejected attacks on the Allen charges as per se coercive.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

  • The Eleventh Circuit criticized the Allen charge as risking coerced convictions but followed binding circuit precedent allowing it.

    United States v. Rey · Eleventh Circuit · filed

    As we see it, the Allen charge interferes with the jurors when they are performing their most important role: determining guilt or innocence in a close case. It unjustifiably increases the risk that an innocent person will be convicted as a result of the juror abandoning his honestly-held beliefs. If this were a question of first impression, we would find the Allen charge in this case impermissible. But we are bound by precedent.
    Read the full opinion on CourtListener →

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