Bearden v. Georgia

Decided May 24, 1983. Sandra Day O'Connor delivered the opinion of the Court.

Docket 81-6633 · 461 U.S. 660 (1983) · Cited 1,941 times

Holding

A sentencing court cannot properly revoke a defendant's probation for failure to pay a fine and make restitution, absent evidence and findings that he was somehow responsible for the failure or that alternative forms of punishment were inadequate to meet the State's interest in punishment and deterrence, and hence here the trial court erred in automatically revoking petitioner's probation and turning the fine into a prison sentence without making such a determination.

The Court’s statement of the holding, from the opinion’s syllabus. The syllabus is prepared by the Reporter of Decisions and is not part of the opinion of the Court — read the official opinion for authority.

How the Justices voted

Decided 9–0.

“Concurring” means agreeing with the outcome; any split shown is the Court’s judgment, not each Justice’s reasoning. Source: the Supreme Court Database (Spaeth et al.), Washington University.

Precedents cited

Supreme Court decisions this opinion relies on, ordered by how often it cites each. Cases in our collection link through; others are named.

• Tate v. Short · 401 U.S. 395 (1971)
• Williams v. Illinois · 399 U.S. 235 (1970)
• Gagnon v. Scarpelli · 411 U.S. 778 (1973)
• Morrissey v. Brewer · 408 U.S. 471 (1972)
• Ross v. Moffitt · 417 U.S. 600 (1974)
• Wood v. Georgia · 450 U.S. 261 (1981)
• North Carolina v. Pearce · 395 U.S. 711 (1969)
• Griffin v. Illinois · 351 U.S. 12 (1956)
• Douglas v. California · 372 U.S. 353 (1963)
• Williams v. New York · 337 U.S. 241 (1949)
• Robinson v. California · 370 U.S. 660 (1962)
• Zablocki v. Redhail · 434 U.S. 374 (1978)
• Powell v. Texas · 392 U.S. 514 (1968)
• United States v. MacCollom · 426 U.S. 317 (1976)
• Mayer v. City of Chicago · 404 U.S. 189 (1971)
• Roberts v. LaVallee · 389 U.S. 40 (1967)
• Douglas v. Buder · 412 U.S. 430 (1973)
• Phillip Morris v. Hiram Schoonfield, Warden · 399 U.S. 508 (1970)

Cited by

Later Supreme Court opinions in our collection that cite this case.

• Black v. Romano · 471 U.S. 606 (1985)
• Kadrmas v. Dickinson Public Schools · 487 U.S. 450 (1988)
• Evitts v. Lucey · 469 U.S. 387 (1985)
• Obergefell v. Hodges · 576 U.S. 644 (2015)
• Jones v. Barnes · 463 U.S. 745 (1983)
• Lewis v. Casey · 518 U.S. 343 (1996)
• Smith v. Robbins · 528 U.S. 259 (2000)
• Ake v. Oklahoma · 470 U.S. 68 (1985)
• Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare v. Davenport · 495 U.S. 552 (1990)
• Jones v. United States · 463 U.S. 354 (1983)

Official text

Read the official opinion (U.S. Reports, govinfo.gov)

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Source: Supreme Court of the United States, slip opinions (1983). Citation count from the Free Law Project’s CourtListener bulk data. Data last verified 2026-07-03. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).