Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/14pdf/13-7120_p86b.pdf
Page Number: 21.0

Cite as:  576 U. S. ____ (2015) 

3 

THOMAS, J., concurring in judgment 

203, 207–208, but the crime in question must still present 
‘important’ ”—risk  of 
a  “ ‘serious’ ”—a  “ ‘significant’  or 
physical  injury  to  be  deemed  a  violent  felony,  Begay  v. 
United  States,  553  U. S.  137,  156  (2008)  (ALITO,  J.,  dis-
senting); accord, Chambers v. United States, 555 U. S. 122, 
128 (2009).

To  qualify  as  serious,  the  risk  of  injury  generally  must
be  closely  related  to  the  offense  itself.    Our  precedents
provide  useful  examples  of  the  close  relationship  that
must exist between the conduct of the offense and the risk 
presented.  In  Sykes  v.  United  States,  564  U. S.  1  (2011), 
for instance, we held that the offense of intentional vehicu-
lar flight constitutes a violent felony because that conduct 
always triggers a dangerous confrontation, id., at ___ (slip 
op.,  at  8).  As  we  explained,  vehicular  flights  “by  defini-
tional  necessity  occur  when  police  are  present”  and  are
done  “in  defiance  of  their  instructions  . . .  with  a  vehicle 
that can be used in a way to cause serious potential risk of
physical  injury  to  another.”  Ibid.    In  James,  we  likewise 
held  that  attempted  burglary  offenses  “requir[ing]  an
overt  act  directed  toward  the  entry  of  a  structure”  are
violent  felonies  because  the  underlying  conduct  often 
results  in  a  dangerous  confrontation.    550  U. S.,  at  204, 
206.  But  we  distinguished  those  crimes  from  “the  more
attenuated  conduct  encompassed  by”  attempt  offenses 
“that  c[an]  be  satisfied  by  preparatory  conduct  that  does 
not  pose  the  same  risk  of  violent  confrontation,”  such  as
“ ‘possessing burglary tools.’ ”  Id., at 205, 206, and n. 4.  At 
some  point,  in  other  words,  the  risk  of  injury  from  the
crime  may  be  too  attenuated  for  the  conviction  to  fall 
within  the  residual  clause,  such  as  when  an  additional, 
voluntary  act  (e.g.,  the  use  of  burglary  tools  to  enter  a
structure) is necessary to bring about the risk of physical 
injury to another. 

In  light  of  the  elements  of  and  reported  convictions  for
the  unlawful  possession  of  a  short-barreled  shotgun,  this