Descamps v. United States, 570 U.S. 254 (2013), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court clarified standards for evaluating potential prior offenses under the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA).. In an 8–1 decision written by Justice Elena Kagan, the Supreme Court held that judges may only look at the statutory elements of a crime, rather than the facts associated with that particular crime, "when the crime of which the defendant was convicted has a single, indivisible set of elements."Descamps, slip op. at 2. In his review of the case for SCOTUSblog, Daniel Richman opined that following the Court's decision, "[w]hether or not a prior conviction is going to 'count' will have to be determined as mechanically as possible."Daniel Richman, Opinion analysis: When is a burglary not a burglary?, (Jun. 20, 2013).
See also Taylor v. United States List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 570 2012 term United States Supreme Court opinions of Elena Kagan
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