Long and thoughtful ACCA analysis by Eleventh Circuit

The Supreme Court in a series of recent opinions has provided new wisdom on what sorts of prior offenses qualify as a “violent felony” under the Armed Career Criminal Act.  Today, the Eleventh Circuit has a long and thoughtful discussion of all the new ACCA jurisprudence via a decision in US v. Harrison, No. 08-12636 (11th Cir. Feb. 19, 2009) (available here).  Harrison addresses the “question of whether a prior state conviction for violating subsection 2 of Florida’s willful fleeing statute” qualifies as a violent felony under ACCA.  Here is one of many statute observations from the Eleventh Circuit’s analysis:

A closer examination of James and Begay demonstrates that Chambersis simply the latest in a line of Supreme Court cases that have used hard data to assist in making risk assessments under the ACCA’s residual clause.  Although calculating risk “does not require metaphysical certainty,” James, 127 S. Ct. at 1597, it appears that statistical evidence now plays a role in assessing risk for non-enumerated crimes under the residual clause [used in ACCA to define what qualifies as a “violent felony”].