Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/518/267.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 19:11:14+00:00

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In No. 95-345, the Government instituted civil forfeiture proceedings under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7) against respondent Ursery's house, alleging that it had been used to facilitate illegal drug transactions. Shortly before Ursery settled that claim, he was indicted, and was later convicted, of manufacturing marijuana in violation of Section(s) 841(a)(1). In No. 95-346, the Government filed a civil in rem complaint against various property seized from, or titled to, respondents Arlt and Wren or Arlt's corporation, alleging that each item was subject to forfeiture under 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 981(a)(1)(A) because it was involved in money laundering violative of Section(s) 1956, and to forfeiture under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(6) as the proceeds of a felonious drug transaction. Litigation of the forfeiture action was deferred while Arlt and Wren were prosecuted on drug and money-laundering charges under Section(s) 846 and 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 371 and 1956. After their convictions, the District Court granted the Government's motion for summary judgment in the forfeiture proceeding. The Courts of Appeals reversed Ursery's conviction and the forfeiture judgment against Arlt and Wren, holding that the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits the Government from both punishing a defendant for a criminal offense and forfeiting his property for that same offense in a separate civil proceeding. The courts reasoned in part that Halper v. United States, 490 U.S. 435 , and Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 , meant that, as a categorical matter, civil forfeitures always constitute "punishment" for double jeopardy purposes. This Court consolidated the cases.
In rem civil forfeitures are neither "punishment" nor criminal for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Pp. 3-23.
(a) Congress long has authorized the Government to bring parallel criminal actions and in rem civil forfeiture proceedings based upon the same underlying events, see, e.g., The Palmyra, 12 Wheat. 1, 14-15, and this Court consistently has concluded that the Double Jeopardy Clause does not apply to such forfeitures because they do not impose punishment, see, e.g., Various Items of Personal Property v. United States, 282 U. S. 577, 581; One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U.S. 232, 235 -236 (per curiam). In its most recent case, United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354 , the Court held that a forfeiture was not barred by a prior criminal proceeding after applying a two-part test asking, first, whether Congress intended the particular forfeiture to be a remedial civil sanction or a criminal penalty, and, second, whether the forfeiture proceedings are so punitive in fact as to establish that they may not legitimately be viewed as civil in nature, despite any congressional intent to establish a civil remedial mechanism. Pp. 5-9.
(b) Though the 89 Firearms test was more refined, perhaps, than the Court's Various Items analysis, the conclusion was the same in each case: in rem civil forfeiture is a remedial civil sanction, distinct from potentially punitive in personam civil penalties such as fines, and does not constitute a punishment for double jeopardy purposes. See Gore v. United States, 357 U.S. 386, 392 . The Courts of Appeals misread Halper, Austin, and Montana Dept. of Revenue v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. ___, as having abandoned this oft-affirmed rule. None of those decisions purported to overrule Various Items, Emerald Cut Stones, and 89 Firearms or to replace the Court's traditional understanding. It would have been remarkable for the Court both to have held unconstitutional a well-established practice, and to have overruled a long line of precedent, without having even suggested that it was doing so. Moreover, the cases in question did not deal with the subject of this case: in rem civil forfeitures for double jeopardy purposes. Halper involved in personam civil penalties under the Double Jeopardy Clause. Kurth Ranch considered a punitive state tax imposed on marijuana under that Clause. And Austin dealt with civil forfeitures under the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause. Pp. 10-19.
Firearms test. First, there is little doubt that Congress intended proceedings under Section(s) 881 and 981 to be civil, since those statutes' procedural enforcement mechanisms are themselves distinctly civil in nature. See, e.g., 89 Firearms, 465 U.S., at 363 . Second, there is little evidence, much less the "clearest proof" that the Court requires, see e.g., id., at 365, suggesting that forfeiture proceedings under those sections are so punitive in form and effect as to render them criminal despite Congress' intent to the contrary. These statutes are, in most significant respects, indistinguishable from those reviewed, and held not to be punitive, in Various Items, Emerald Cut Stones, and 89 Firearms. That these are civil proceedings is also supported by other factors that the Court has found persuasive, including the considerations that (1) in rem civil forfeiture has not historically been regarded as punishment; (2) there is no requirement in the statutes at issue that the Government demonstrate scienter in order to establish that the property is subject to forfeiture; (3) though both statutes may serve a deterrent purpose, this purpose may serve civil as well as criminal goals; and (4) the fact that both are tied to criminal activity is insufficient in itself to render them punitive. See, e.g., United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 247 -248, n. 7, 249. Pp. 19-23.
The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit by a divided vote reversed Ursery's criminal conviction, holding that the conviction violated the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. 59 F. 3d 568 (1995). The court based its conclusion in part upon its belief that our decisions in United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435 (1989), and Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 (1993), meant that any civil forfeiture under Section(s) 881(a)(7) constitutes punishment for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Ursery, in the court's view, had therefore been "punished" in the forfeiture proceeding against his property, and could not be subsequently criminally tried for violation of 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 841(a)(1).
The Double Jeopardy Clause provides: "[N]or shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." U. S. Const., Amdt. 5. The Clause serves the function of preventing both "successive punishments and . . . successive prosecutions." United States v. Dixon, 509 U.S. 688, 696 (1993), citing North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711 (1969). The protection against multiple punishments prohibits the Government from "`punishing twice, or attempting a second time to punish criminally for the same offense.'" Witte v. United States, 515 U. S. ___, ___ (1995) (slip op., at 6) (emphasis omitted), quoting Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391, 399 (1938).
Since the earliest years of this Nation, Congress has authorized the Government to seek parallel in rem civil forfeiture actions and criminal prosecutions based upon the same underlying events. See, e.g., Act of July 31, 1789, ch. 5, Section(s) 12, 1 Stat. 39 (goods unloaded at night or without a permit subject to forfeiture and persons unloading subject to criminal prosecution); Section(s) 25, id., at 43 (persons convicted of buying or concealing illegally imported goods subject to both monetary fine and in rem forfeiture of the goods); Section(s) 34, id., at 46 (imposing criminal penalty and in rem forfeiture where person convicted of relanding goods entitled to drawback); see also The Palmyra, 12 Wheat. 1, 14-15 (1827) ("Many cases exist, where there is both a forfeiture in rem and a personal penalty"); cf. Calero-Toledo v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., 416 U.S. 663, 683 (1974) (discussing adoption of forfeiture statutes by early Congresses). And, in a long line of cases, this Court has considered the application of the Double Jeopardy Clause to civil forfeitures, consistently concluding that the Clause does not apply to such actions because they do not impose punishment.
Following its decision in Various Items, the Court did not consider another double jeopardy case involving a civil forfeiture for 40 years. Then, in One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U.S. 232 (1972) (per curiam), the Court's brief opinion reaffirmed the rule of Various Items. In Emerald Cut Stones, after having been acquitted of smuggling jewels into the United States, the owner of the jewels intervened in a proceeding to forfeit them as contraband. We rejected the owner's double jeopardy challenge to the forfeiture, holding that "[i]f for no other reason the forfeiture is not barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment because it involves neither two criminal trials nor two criminal punishments." 409 U.S., at 235 . Noting that the forfeiture provisions had been codified separately from parallel criminal provisions, the Court determined that the forfeiture clearly was "a civil sanction." Id., at 236. The forfeitures were not criminal punishments because they did not impose a second in personam penalty for the criminal defendant's wrongdoing.
In our most recent decision considering whether a civil forfeiture constitutes punishment under the Double Jeopardy Clause, we again affirmed the rule of Various Items. In United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354 (1984), the owner of the defendant weapons was acquitted of charges of dealing firearms without a license. The Government then brought a forfeiture action against the firearms under 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 924(d), alleging that they were used or were intended to be used in violation of federal law.
Our inquiry proceeded in two stages. In the first stage, we looked to Congress' intent, and concluded that "Congress designed forfeiture under Section(s) 924(d) as a remedial civil sanction." 465 U.S., at 363 . This conclusion was based upon several findings. First, noting that the forfeiture proceeding was in rem, we found it significant that "actions in rem have traditionally been viewed as civil proceedings, with jurisdiction dependent upon the seizure of a physical object." 89 Firearms, id., at 363, citing, Calero-Toledo v. Pearson Yacht Leasing Co., 416 U.S., at 684 . Second, we found that the forfeiture provision, because it reached both weapons used in violation of federal law and those "intended to be used" in such a manner, reached a broader range of conduct than its criminal analogue. Third, we concluded that the civil forfeiture "further[ed] broad remedial aims," including both "discouraging unregulated commerce in firearms," and "removing from circulation firearms that have been used or intended for use outside regulated channels of commerce." 89 Firearms, supra, at 364.
In the second stage of our analysis, we looked to "`whether the statutory scheme was so punitive either in purpose or effect as to negate' Congress' intention to establish a civil remedial mechanism," 465 U.S., at 365 , quoting United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 248 -249 (1980). Considering several factors that we had used previously in order to determine whether a civil proceeding was so punitive as to require application of the full panoply of constitutional protections required in a criminal trial, see id., at 248, we found only one of those factors to be present in the Section(s) 924(d) forfeiture. By itself, however, the fact that the behavior proscribed by the forfeiture was already a crime proved insufficient to turn the forfeiture into a punishment subject to the Double Jeopardy Clause. Hence, we found that the petitioner had "failed to establish by the `clearest proof' that Congress has provided a sanction so punitive as to `transfor[m] what was clearly intended as a civil remedy into a criminal penalty.'" 89 Firearms, supra, at 366, quoting Rex Trailer Co. v. United States, 350 U.S. 148, 154 (1956). We concluded our decision by restating that civil forfeiture is "not an additional penalty for the commission of a criminal act, but rather is a separate civil sanction, remedial in nature." 89 Firearms, supra, at 366.
Our cases reviewing civil forfeitures under the Double Jeopardy Clause adhere to a remarkably consistent theme. Though the two-part analytical construct employed in 89 Firearms was more refined, perhaps, than that we had used over 50 years earlier in Various Items, the conclusion was the same in each case: in rem civil forfeiture is a remedial civil sanction, distinct from potentially punitive in personam civil penalties such as fines, and does not constitute a punishment under the Double Jeopardy Clause. See Gore v. United States, 357 U.S. 386, 392 (1958) ("In applying a provision like that of double jeopardy, which is rooted in history and is not an evolving concept . . . a long course of adjudication in this Court carries impressive authority").
In the case that we currently review, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit recognized as much, concluding that after 89 Firearms, "the law was clear that civil forfeitures did not constitute `punishment' for double jeopardy purposes." 33 F. 3d, at 1218. Nevertheless, that court read three of our decisions to have "abandoned" 89 Firearms and the oft-affirmed rule of Various Items. According to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, through our decisions in United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435 (1989), Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 (1993), and Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. ___ (1994), we "changed [our] collective mind," and "adopted a new test for determining whether a nominally civil sanction constitutes `punishment' for double jeopardy purposes." 33 F. 3d, at 1218-1219. The Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit shared the view of the Ninth Circuit, though it did not directly rely upon Kurth Ranch. We turn now to consider whether Halper, Austin, and Kurth Ranch accomplished the radical jurisprudential shift perceived by the Courts of Appeals.
This Court agreed with the District Court's analysis. We determined that our precedent had established no absolute and irrebuttable rule that a civil fine cannot be "punishment" under the Double Jeopardy Clause. Though it was well established that "a civil remedy does not rise to the level of `punishment' merely because Congress provided for civil recovery in excess of the Government's actual damages," we found that our case law did "not foreclose the possibility that in a particular case a civil penalty . . . may be so extreme and so divorced from the Government's damages and expenses as to constitute punishment." 490 U.S., at 442 . Emphasizing the case-specific nature of our inquiry, id., at 448, we compared the size of the fine imposed on Halper, $130,000, to the damages actually suffered by the Government as a result of Halper's actions, estimated by the District Court at $585. Noting that the fine was more than 220 times greater than the Government's damages, we agreed with the District Court that "Halper's $130,000 liability is sufficiently disproportionate that the sanction constitutes a second punishment in violation of double jeopardy." Id., at 452. We remanded to the District Court so that it could hear evidence regarding the Government's actual damages, and could then reduce Halper's liability to a nonpunitive level. Ibid.
We limited our review to the question "whether the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment applies to forfeitures of property under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(4) and (a)(7)." Austin, supra, at 604. We began our analysis by rejecting the argument that the Excessive Fines Clause was limited solely to criminal proceedings: The relevant question was not whether a particular proceeding was criminal or civil, we determined, but rather was whether forfeiture under Section(s) 881 (a) (4) and (a)(7) constituted "punishment" for the purposes of the Eighth Amendment. Austin, supra, at 610. In an effort to answer that question, we briefly reviewed the history of civil forfeiture both in this country and in England, see id., at 611-618, taking a categorical approach that contrasted sharply with Halper's case-specific approach to determining whether a civil penalty constitutes punishment. Ultimately, we concluded that "forfeiture under [Section(s) 881(a)(4) and (a)(7)] constitutes `payment to a sovereign as punishment for some offense,' and, as such, is subject to the limitations of the Eighth Amendment's Excessive Fines Clause." Id., at 622.
"What we announce now is a rule for the rare case, the case such as the one before us, where a fixed-penalty provision subjects a prolific but small-gauge offender to a sanction overwhelmingly disproportionate to the damages he has caused. The rule is one of reason: Where a defendant previously has sustained a criminal penalty and the civil penalty sought in the subsequent proceeding bears no rational relation to the goal of compensating the Government for its loss, but rather appears to qualify as `punishment' in the plain meaning of the word, then the defendant is entitled to an accounting of the Government's damages and costs to determine if the penalty sought in fact constitutes a second punishment." 490 U.S., at 449 -450 (emphasis added).
The narrow focus of Halper followed from the distinction that we have drawn historically between civil forfeiture and civil penalties. Since at least Various Items, we have distinguished civil penalties such as fines from civil forfeiture proceedings that are in rem. While a "civil action to recover . . . penalties, is punitive in character," and much like a criminal prosecution in that "it is the wrongdoer in person who is proceeded against . . . and punished," in an in rem forfeiture proceeding, "it is the property which is proceeded against, and by resort to a legal fiction, held guilty and condemned." Various Items, 282 U. S., at 580-581. Thus, though for Double Jeopardy purposes we have never balanced the value of property forfeited in a particular case against the harm suffered by the Government in that case, we have balanced the size of a particular civil penalty against the Government's harm. See, e.g., Rex Trailer Co. v. United States, 350 U.S. 148, 154 (1956) (fines not "so unreasonable or excessive" as to transform a civil remedy into a criminal penalty); United States ex rel. Marcus v. Hess, 317 U.S. 537 (1943) (fine of $315,000 not so disproportionate to Government's harm of $101,500 as to transform the fine into punishment). Indeed, the rule set forth in Halper developed from the teaching of Rex Trailer and Hess. See Halper, supra, at 445-447.
In the cases that we review, the Courts of Appeals did not find Halper difficult to apply to civil forfeiture because they concluded that its case-by-case balancing approach had been supplanted in Austin by a categorical approach that found a civil sanction to be punitive if it could not "fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose." See Austin, 509 U.S., at 610 ; see also Halper, supra, at 448. But Austin, it must be remembered, did not involve the Double Jeopardy Clause at all. Austin was decided solely under the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, a constitutional provision which we never have understood as parallel to, or even related to, the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment. The only discussion of the Double Jeopardy Clause contained in Austin appears in a footnote that acknowledges our decisions holding that "[t]he Double Jeopardy Clause has been held not to apply in civil forfeiture proceedings . . . where the forfeiture could properly be characterized as remedial." Austin, supra, at 608, n. 4. And in Austin we expressly recognized and approved our decisions in One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U.S. 232 (1972), and United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354 (1984). See Austin, supra, at 608, n. 4.
We acknowledged in Austin that our categorical approach under the Excessive Fines Clause was wholly distinct from the case-by-case approach of Halper, and we explained that the difference in approach was based in a significant difference between the purposes of our analysis under each constitutional provision. See Austin, supra, at 622, n. 14. It is unnecessary in a case under the Excessive Fines Clause to inquire at a preliminary stage whether the civil sanction imposed in that particular case is totally inconsistent with any remedial goal. Because the second stage of inquiry under the Excessive Fines Clause asks whether the particular sanction in question is so large as to be "excessive," see Austin, 509 U.S., at 622 -623 (declining to establish criteria for excessiveness), a preliminary-stage inquiry that focused on the disproportionality of a particular sanction would be duplicative of the excessiveness analysis that would follow. See id., at 622, n. 14 ("[I]t appears to make little practical difference whether the Excessive Fines Clause applies to all forfeitures . . . or only to those that cannot be characterized as purely remedial," because the Excessive Fines Clause "prohibits only the imposition of `excessive' fines, and a fine that serves purely remedial purposes cannot be considered `excessive' in any event"). Forfeitures effected under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) are subject to review for excessiveness under the Eighth Amendment after Austin; this does not mean, however, that those forfeitures are so punitive as to constitute punishment for the purposes of double jeopardy. The holding of Austin was limited to the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, and we decline to import the analysis of Austin into our double jeopardy jurisprudence.
We turn now to consider the forfeitures in these cases under the teaching of Various Items, Emerald Cut Stones, and 89 Firearms. Because it provides a useful analytical tool, we conduct our inquiry within the framework of the two-part test used in 89 Firearms. First, we ask whether Congress intended proceedings under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881, and 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 981, to be criminal or civil. Second, we turn to consider whether the proceedings are so punitive in fact as to "persuade us that the forfeiture proceeding[s] may not legitimately be viewed as civil in nature," despite Congress' intent. 89 Firearms, 465 U.S., at 366 .
There is little doubt that Congress intended these forfeitures to be civil proceedings. As was the case in 89 Firearms, "Congress' intent in this regard is most clearly demonstrated by the procedural mechanisms it established for enforcing forfeitures under the statute[s]." 465 U.S., at 363 . Both 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881 and 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 981, which is entitled "Civil forfeiture," provide that the laws "relating to the seizure, summary and judicial forfeiture, and condemnation of property for violation of the customs laws . . . shall apply to seizures and forfeitures incurred" under Section(s) 881 and Section(s) 981. See 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(d); 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 981(d). Because forfeiture proceedings under the customs laws are in rem, see 19 U. S. C. Section(s) 1602 et seq., it is clear that Congress intended that a forfeiture under Section(s) 881 or Section(s) 981, like the forfeiture reviewed in 89 Firearms, would be a proceeding in rem. Congress specifically structured these forfeitures to be impersonal by targeting the property itself. "In contrast to the in personam nature of criminal actions, actions in rem have traditionally been viewed as civil proceedings, with jurisdiction dependent upon seizure of a physical object." 89 Firearms, 465 U.S., at 363 , citing Calero-Toledo, 416 U.S., at 684 .
Moving to the second stage of our analysis, we find that there is little evidence, much less the "`clearest proof'" that we require, see 89 Firearms, supra, at 365, quoting Ward, 448 U.S., at 249 , suggesting that forfeiture proceedings under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(6) and (a)(7), and 19 U. S. C. Section(s) 981(a)(1)(A), are so punitive in form and effect as to render them criminal despite Congress' intent to the contrary. The statutes involved in this case are, in most significant respects, indistinguishable from those reviewed, and held not to be punitive, in Various Items, Emerald Cut Stones, and 89 Firearms.
Most significant is that Section(s) 981(a)(1)(A), and Section(s) 881(a)(6) and (a)(7), while perhaps having certain punitive aspects, serve important nonpunitive goals. Title 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7), under which Ursery's property was forfeited, provides for the forfeiture of "all real property . . . which is used or intended to be used, in any manner or part, to commit, or to facilitate the commission of" a federal drug felony. Requiring the forfeiture of property used to commit federal narcotics violations encourages property owners to take care in managing their property and ensures that they will not permit that property to be used for illegal purposes. See Bennis v. Michigan, 516 U. S. ___, ___ (1996) (slip op., at 10) ("Forfeiture of property prevents illegal uses . . . by imposing an economic penalty, thereby rendering illegal behavior unprofitable"); 89 Firearms, supra, at 364 (forfeiture "discourages unregulated commerce in firearms"); Calero-Toledo, supra, at 687-688. In many circumstances, the forfeiture may abate a nuisance. See, e.g., United States v. 141st Street Corp., 911 F. 2d 870 (CA2 1990) (forfeiting apartment building used to sell crack cocaine); see also Bennis, supra, at ___ (slip op., at 10) (affirming application of Michigan statute abating car as a nuisance; forfeiture "prevent[s] further illicit use of" property); cf. 89 Firearms, supra, at 364 (forfeiture "remov[ed] from circulation firearms that have been used or intended for use" illegally); Emerald Cut Stones, 409 U.S., at 237 (forfeiture "prevented forbidden merchandise from circulating in the United States").
Other considerations that we have found relevant to the question whether a proceeding is criminal also tend to support a conclusion that Section(s) 981(a)(1)(A) and Section(s) 881 (a)(6) and (a)(7) are civil proceedings. See Ward, supra, at 247-248, n. 7, 249 (listing relevant factors and noting that they are neither exhaustive nor dispositive). First, in light of our decisions in Various Items, Emerald Cut Stones, and 89 Firearms, and the long tradition of federal statutes providing for a forfeiture proceeding following a criminal prosecution, it is absolutely clear that in rem civil forfeiture has not historically been regarded as punishment, as we have understood that term under the Double Jeopardy Clause. Second, there is no requirement in the statutes that we currently review that the Government demonstrate scienter in order to establish that the property is subject to forfeiture; indeed, the property may be subject to forfeiture even if no party files a claim to it and the Government never shows any connection between the property and a particular person. See 19 U. S. C. Section(s) 1609. Though both Section(s) 881(a) and Section(s) 981(a) contain an "innocent owner" exception, we do not think that such a provision, without more indication of an intent to punish, is relevant to the question whether a statute is punitive under the Double Jeopardy Clause. Third, though both statutes may fairly be said to serve the purpose of deterrence, we long have held that this purpose may serve civil as well as criminal goals. See, e.g., 89 Firearms, supra, at 364; Calero-Toledo, supra, at 677-678. We recently reaffirmed this conclusion in Bennis v. Michigan, supra, at ___ (slip. op., at 10), where we held that "forfeiture . . . serves a deterrent purpose distinct from any punitive purpose." Finally, though both statutes are tied to criminal activity, as was the case in 89 Firearms, this fact is insufficient to render the statutes punitive. See 89 Firearms, 465 U.S., at 365 -366. It is well settled that "Congress may impose both a criminal and a civil sanction in respect to the same act or omission," Helvering, 303 U.S., at 399 . By itself, the fact that a forfeiture statute has some connection to a criminal violation is far from the "clearest proof" necessary to show that a proceeding is criminal.
In Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602, 619 -622 (1993), we described the civil in rem forfeiture provision of 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7) at issue here as punitive. In Libretti v. United States, 516 U. S. ___ (1995), we reviewed 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 853, which in almost identical terms provides for criminal forfeiture of property involved in or derived from drug crimes. We held that the "fundamental nature of criminal forfeiture" is punishment. 516 U. S., at ___ (slip op. at 11). Today the Court holds that the civil in rem forfeitures here are not punishment implicating the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Ante, at 24-25. I write to explain why, in my view, our holding is consistent with both Austin and Libretti.
The Fifth Amendment provides that no person shall "be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb." U. S. Const., Amdt. 5. We have interpreted the Double Jeopardy Clause to "protec[t] against a second prosecution for the same offense after acquittal, against a second prosecution for the same offense after conviction, and against multiple punishments for the same offense." Justices of Boston Municipal Court v. Lydon, 466 U.S. 294, 306 -307 (1984); Jones v. Thomas, 491 U.S. 376, 380 -381 (1989).
Although there is language in our cases to the contrary, see One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania, 380 U.S. 693, 700 (1965); Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, 634 (1886), civil in rem forfeiture is not punishment of the wrongdoer for his criminal offense. We made this clear in Various Items of Personal Property v. United States, 282 U. S. 577 (1931), which the Court is right to deem the seminal case in this area, ante, at 5.
Embracing the rule of Various Items, that the Double Jeopardy Clause applies only to in personam punishments of the wrongdoer and not in rem forfeitures, does not imply that forfeiture inflicts no punishment. Though I have expressed my doubts about the view expressed in Austin, 509 U.S., at 611 -618, that throughout history forfeitures have been intended to punish blameworthy owners, id., at 629 (opinion concurring in part and concurring in judgment); Bennis v. Michigan, 516 U. S. ___, ___ (1996) (dissenting opinion) (slip op. at 1-2), I did not there question the punitive nature of Section(s) 881(a)(7), nor do I now. Under this statute, providing for the forfeiture of real property used to facilitate a drug offense, only the culpable stand to lose their property; no interest of any owner is forfeited if he can show he did not know of or consent to the crime. Ibid.
Forfeiture, then, punishes an owner by taking property involved in a crime, and it may happen that the owner is also the wrongdoer charged with a criminal offense. But the forfeiture is not a second in personam punishment for the offense, which is all the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits. See ante, at 8 ("The forfeitures were not criminal punishments because they did not impose a second in personam penalty for the criminal defendant's wrongdoing."); One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U.S. 232, 235 (1972) (per curiam) ("the forfeiture is not barred by the Double Jeop-ardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment because it involves neither two criminal trials nor two criminalpunishments").
Distinguishing between in rem and in personam punishments does not depend upon, or revive, the fiction alive in Various Items, supra, at 581, but condemned in Austin, supra, at 615, n. 9, that the property is punished as if it were a sentient being capable of moral choice. It is the owner who feels the pain and receives the stigma of the forfeiture, not the property. See United States v. United States Coin & Currency, 401 U.S. 715, 718 (1971). The distinction simply recognizes that Congress, in order to quiet title to forfeitable property in one proceeding, has structured the forfeiture action as a proceeding against the property, not against a particular defendant. Indeed, the Government will often file a forfeiture complaint without any knowledge of who the owner is. See ante, at 24. True, the forfeiture statutes require proof of a violation of a drug trafficking or other offense, but the purpose of this predicate showing is just to establish that the property was used in a crime. In contrast to criminal forfeiture, see 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 853(a), civil in rem forfeiture actions do not require a showing that the owner who stands to lose his property interest has committed a criminal offense. See 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(6) ("any violation of this subchapter"); Section(s) 881(a)(7) ("a violation of this subchapter"); 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 981(a)(1)(A) ("a transaction or attempted transaction in violation of" 18 U. S. C. Section(s) 1956). The offenses committed by Ursery, Arlt, and Wren were proffered as evidence that the property was used in a crime, but this does not make forfeiture a punishment for those offenses. See United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354, 366 (1984) (civil forfeiture is "not an additional penalty for the commission of a criminal act").
In Part II-C of its opinion, the Court conducts the two-part inquiry established in 89 Firearms, supra, at 362-366, as to whether, first, Congress intended the proceedings to be civil, and, second, the forfeitures are so punitive as to be criminal in nature and therefore subject to the Double Jeopardy Clause. Ante, at 20. The test was imported by the 89 Firearms Court from cases involving civil in personam penalties. See 465 U.S., at 362 (citing Helvering v. Mitchell, 303 U.S. 391, 398 -399 (1938), and United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 248 (1980)). In the context of this case and the precedents bearing upon it, I am not sure the test adds much to the clear rule of Various Items that civil in rem forfeiture of property involved in a crime is not punishment subject to the Double Jeopardy Clause. As to the first prong of the test, any in rem proceeding is civil. As to the second prong, so long as forfeiture hinges on the property's use in a crime, there will always be the remedial purpose the Court identifies of preventing property owners from allowing their goods to be used for illegal purposes, ante, at 22. I acknowledge 89 Firearms to be precedent, however, and, because the Court's application of the test is consistent with Various Items, I join its opinion in full.
In my view, the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits successive prosecution, not successive punishment. See Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. ___, ___ (1994) (slip op., at 1-4, 8) (Scalia, J., dissenting). Civil forfeiture proceedings of the sort at issue here are not criminal prosecutions, even under the standard of Kennedy v. Mendoza-Martinez, 372 U.S. 144, 164 (1963), and United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 248 -251 (1980).
The critical question presented in No. 95-345 arose, not out of the seizure of contraband by the Michigan police, but rather out of the decision by the United States Attorney to take respondent's home. There is no evidence that the house had been purchased with the proceeds of unlawful activity and the house itself was surely not contraband. Nonetheless, 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7) authorized the Government to seek forfeiture of respondent's residence because it had been used to facilitate the manufacture and distribution of marijuana. 4 Respondent was then himself prosecuted for and convicted of manufacturing marijuana. In my opinion none of the reasons supporting the forfeiture of proceeds or contraband provides a sufficient basis for concluding that the confiscation of respondent's home was not punitive.
In recent years, both Congress and the state legislatures have armed their law enforcement authorities with new powers to forfeit property that vastly exceed their traditional tools. 5 In response, this Court has reaf-firmed the fundamental proposition that all forfeitures must be accomplished within the constraints set by the Constitution. See, e.g., Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 (1993); United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U.S. 43 (1993). This Term the Court has begun dismantling the protections it so recently erected. In Bennis v. Michigan, 516 U. S. ___ (1996), the Court held that officials may confiscate an innocent person's automobile. And today, for the first time it upholds the forfeiture of a person's home. On the way to its surprising conclusion that the owner is not punished by the loss of his residence, the Court repeatedly professes its adherence to tradition and time-honored practice. As I discuss below, however, the decision shows a stunning disregard not only for modern precedents but for our older ones as well.
According to the Court, Various Items established a categorical rule that the Double Jeopardy Clause was "inapplicable to civil forfeiture actions." Ante, at 6. The Court asserts that this rule has received "remarkably consistent" application and was "reaffirmed" by a pair of cases in 1972 and 1984. Ante, at 10, 7. In reality, however, shortly after its announcement, Various Items simply disappeared from our jurisprudence. We cited that case in only two decisions over the next seven years, and never again in nearly six decades. Neither of the two cases that supposedly "affirmed" Various Items-One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U.S. 232 (1972) (per curiam), and United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354 (1984)-even mentioned it.
More important, neither of those cases endorsed the asserted categorical rule that civil forfeitures never give rise to double jeopardy rights. Instead, each carefully considered the nature of the particular forfeiture at issue, classifying it as either "punitive" or "remedial," before deciding whether it implicated double jeopardy. Emerald Cut Stones concerned a customs statute that authorized confiscation of certain merchandise, in that case jewelry, that had been smuggled into the United States. The Court explained that the purpose of the statute was to remove such items from circulation, and that the penalty amounted to a reasonable liquidated damages award to reimburse the Government for the costs of enforcement and investigation. In those respects, therefore, it constituted a "remedial rather than punitive sanctio[n]." 409 U.S., at 237 . In 89 Firearms, the Court explored in even greater detail the character of a federal statute that forfeited unregistered firearms. It reasoned that the sanction "further[ed] broad remedial aims" in preventing commerce in such weapons, and also covered a broader range of conduct than simply criminal behavior. 465 U.S., at 364 . For those reasons, it was not properly characterized as a punitive sanction.
"The Double Jeopardy Clause has been held not to apply in civil forfeiture proceedings, but only in cases where the forfeiture could properly be characterized as remedial. See United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354, 364 (1984); One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U.S. 232, 237 (1972); see generally United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 446 -449 (1989) (Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits second sanction that may not be fairly characterized as remedial)." 509 U.S., at 608 , n. 4 (emphasis added).
In reality, both cases rejected the monolithic view that all in rem civil forfeitures should be treated the same, and recognized the possibility that other types of forfeitures that could not "properly be characterized as remedial" might constitute "an additional penalty for the commission of a criminal act." 465 U.S., at 366 .
We reaffirmed Boyd twice during the span of time between our decisions in Various Items and 89 Firearms. In One 1958 Plymouth Sedan v. Pennsylvania, 380 U.S. 693 (1965), the Court unanimously repeated Boyd's conclusion that "a forfeiture proceeding is quasi-criminal in character" and "[i]ts object, like a criminal proceeding, is to penalize for the commission of an offense against the law." The Court therefore held that the Fourth Amendment applied to a proceeding to forfeit an automobile used to transport illegally manufactured liquor. Id., at 700.
Even more significant is United States v. United States Coin & Currency, 401 U.S. 715 (1971), in which the Court again held that the Fifth Amendment applied to forfeiture proceedings. Coin & Currency involved the confiscation of gambling money under a statute, quite similar to 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881, providing that "[i]t shall be unlawful to have or possess any property intended for use in violating the provisions of the internal revenue laws . . . and no property right shall exist in any such property." Id., at 716 (citing 26 U. S. C. Section(s) 7302). The Court held that the Fifth Amendment barred the Government's attempt to introduce evidence of the defendant's failure to file required tax forms against him in the forfeiture proceeding. Following Boyd, the Court explained that the form of the proceeding as civil or criminal could not have any bearing on the rights that attached when the sanction was a penalty. "From the relevant constitutional standpoint, there is no difference between a man who `forfeits' $8,674 because he has used the money in illegal gambling activities and a man who pays a `criminal fine' of $8,674 as a result of the same course of conduct." 401 U.S., at 718 . In each case, the Court reasoned, the liability derives from the same offense of the owner; hence, "the Fifth Amendment applies with equal force." Ibid.
Emerald Cut Stones expressly recognized the continuing validity of Coin & Currency and One 1958 Plymouth Sedan. It distinguished the customs statute in that case because the forfeiture did not depend on the fact of a criminal offense or conviction. See 409 U.S., at 236 , n. 6. See also United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 254 (1980) (discussing Boyd). That recognition is critical. For whatever its connection to the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment, the Double Jeopardy Clause is part of the same Amendment as the Self-Incrimination Clause, and ought to be interpreted in pari materia. 6 By confining its holding to civil forfeitures fairly characterized as remedial, and by distinguishing cases that had applied the Fifth Amendment to other types of forfeitures, Emerald Cut Stones and 89 Firearms recognized the possibility that the Double Jeopardy Clause might apply to certain punitive civil forfeiture proceedings. One of the mysteries of the Court's opinion is that although it claims that civil in rem forfeiture cannot be understood as punishment, it devotes Part II-C to examining the actual purposes of the forfeiture in this case and "proving" that they are not punitive. If the Court truly adhered to the logic of its position, that entire section would be unnecessary.
Read properly, therefore, 89 Firearms and Emerald Cut Stones are not inconsistent with, but set the stage for the modern understanding of how the Double Jeopardy Clause applies in nominally civil proceedings. That understanding has been developed in a trio of recent decisions: United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435 (1989), Austin v. United States, 509 U.S. 602 (1993), and Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. ___ (1994). The court of appeals found that the combined effect of two of those decisions-Halper and Austin-established the proposition that forfeitures under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7) implicated double jeopardy. This Court rejects that conclusion, asserting that none of these cases changed the "oft-affirmed rule" of Various Items. Ante, at 10.
"[A] civil sanction that cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose, but rather can only be explained as also serving either retributive or deterrent purposes, is punishment, as we have come to understand the term. . . . We therefore hold that under the Double Jeopardy Clause a defendant who already has been punished in a criminal prosecution may not be subjected to an additional civil sanction to the extent that the second sanction may not fairly be characterized as remedial, but only as a deterrent or retribution." 490 U.S., at 448 -449.
The second category of sanctions-civil forfeitures-was the subject of Austin. In that case, the Government sought to forfeit the petitioner's mobile home and auto body shop as instrumentalities of the drug trade under 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) because he had sold cocaine there. Applying Halper's definition of punishment, see 509 U.S., at 610 , 621, we held that Section(s) 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) must be considered to qualify as such, partly because forfeitures have historically been understood as punishment and more importantly because no remedial purpose underlay the sanction the statute created. Merely compensating the Government for its costs, as in Halper, could not justify the forfeiture scheme because "[t]he value of the conveyances and real property forfeitable under Section(s) 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) . . . can vary so dramatically that any relationship between the Government's actual costs and the amount of the sanction is merely coincidental." 509 U.S., at 622 , n. 14. Accordingly, we held that any forfeiture was subject to the constraints of the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.
The majority implies that Austin's "categorical approach" is somehow suspect as an application of double jeopardy jurisprudence, ante, at 18, but Kurth Ranch definitively refutes that suggestion. The sanction there was a tax imposed on marijuana and applied to a taxpayer who had already been prosecuted for ownership of the drugs sought to be taxed. Again applying Halper's definition of punishment, see 511 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 9-10), we considered the nature of the tax, focusing on several unusual features that distinguished it from ordinary revenue-raising provisions, and concluded that it was motivated by a "penal and prohibitory intent." Id., at ___ (slip op., at 14). 9 On that basis, we held that imposition of the tax after criminal prosecution of the taxpayer violated double jeopardy. The approach taken was thus identical to that followed in Austin. By considering and rejecting each of the asserted "remedial" interests served by the sanction, we reasoned that the tax had an "unmistakable punitive character" that rendered it punishment in all of its applications. 511 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 16).
Second, the Court claims that the statute serves the purpose of deterrence, which helps to show that it is remedial rather than punitive in character. Ante, at 24. That statement cannot be squared with our precedents. Halper expressly held, and Austin and Kurth Ranch reaffirmed, that "a civil sanction that cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose, but rather can only be explained as also serving either retributive or deterrent purposes, is punishment" for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause. 490 U.S., at 448 . "`Retribution and deterrence are not legitimate nonpunitive governmental objectives.'" Ibid. (emphasis added) (quoting Bell v. Wolfish, 441 U.S. 520, 539 , n. 20 (1979)). To say otherwise is to renounce Halper's central holding. If deterrence is a legitimate remedial rationale "distinct from" any punitive purpose, ante, at 23, then the $130,000 fine in Halper could not be condemned as excessive because it plainly served a powerful deterrent function. It was a premise of the Court's analysis in that case that deterrence could not justify a penal sanction. As in Bennis v. Michigan, where the Court first announced this new view of deterrence, it simply ignores Halper without explanation or comment. See 516 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 12) (Stevens, J., dissenting).
For good measure, the Court also rejects two considerations that persuaded the majority in Austin to find 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7) a punitive statute. The Court first asserts that the statute contains no scienter requirement and property may be forfeited summarily if no one files claim to it. Ante, at 24 (citing 19 U. S. C. Section(s) 1609). Property that is not claimed, however, is considered abandoned; it proves nothing that the Government is able to forfeit property that no one owns. Any time the Government seeks to forfeit claimed property, it must prove that the claimant is culpable, for the statute contains an express "innocent owner" exception. Today the Court finds the structure of the statute irrelevant, but Austin said that the exemption for innocent owners "makes [the statute] look more like punishment." 509 U.S., at 619 . In United States v. United States Coin & Currency, 401 U.S. 715 (1971), the Court found a forfeiture statute punitive on the basis of discretionary authority granted to the Secretary of the Treasury to remit property to innocent owners that was provided by a different statute.
The notion that the label attached to the proceeding is dispositive runs contrary to the trend of our recent cases. In Halper we stated that "the labels `criminal' and `civil' are not of paramount importance" in determining whether a proceeding punishes an individual. 490 U.S., at 447 . In Kurth Ranch we held that the Double Jeopardy Clause applies to punitive proceedings even if they are labeled a tax. Indeed, in reaching that conclusion, we followed a 1931 decision that noted that a tax statute might be considered punitive for double jeopardy purposes. 17 It is thus far too late in the day to contend that the label placed on a punitive proceeding determines whether it is covered by the Double Jeopardy Clause.
The rule does, however, bar this conviction because the elements that the Government was required to allege and prove to sustain the forfeiture of Ursery's home under Section(s) 881(a)(7) included each of the elements of the offense for which he was later convicted. As in Illinois v. Vitale, 447 U.S. 410 (1980), and Harris v. Oklahoma, 433 U.S. 682 (1977) (per curiam), the fact that the "greater" offense (here, the forfeiture) could have been proved by means of a different "lesser" offense does not negate the fact that in this instance it was proved by resort to the same elements as the criminal offense. This conclusion also accords with our oft-repeated understanding of the relationship between a civil forfeiture and the underlying offense. See, e.g., One 1958 Plymouth Sedan, 380 U.S., at 701 ("the forfeiture is clearly a penalty for the criminal offense"); Boyd, 116 U. S., at 634 (describing sanction as "proceedings instituted for the purpose of declaring the forfeiture of a man's property by reason of offences committed by him"). Accordingly, under the analysis we unanimously applied most recently in Rutledge v. United States, 517 U. S. ___ (1996), the criminal charge was a lesser-included offense of the forfeiture and therefore constituted a second jeopardy.
Justice Kennedy theorizes that civil forfeiture punishes for the misuse of property. Ibid. It might be true that some forfeiture statutes are best described as creating a sanction for misuse, as opposed to (but perhaps in addition to) a sanction for the substantive criminal offense. But, again, this statute is not structured that way. Section 881(a)(7) incorporates the criminal offense itself as the predicate for the forfeiture. See 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7) (subjecting to forfeiture "[a]ll real property . . . which is used . . . to commit . . . a violation of this subchapter punishable by more than one year's imprisonment"). Furthermore, the innocent owner exemption in the same subsection provides that "no property shall be forfeited under this paragraph . . . by reason of any act or omission established by that owner to have been committed or omitted without the knowledge or consent of that owner." Ibid. (emphasis added). In Austin, we held that the exemption revealed a "congressional intent to punish only those involved in drug trafficking" because "`the traditional criminal sanctions . . . are inadequate to deter or punish the enormously profitable trade in dangerous drugs.' " 509 U.S., at 619 , 620 (quoting S. Rep. No. 98-225, p. 191 (1983)). See also 509 U.S., at 628 (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) (suggesting that proportionality of a forfeiture be measured by the relationship of the property to the underlying offense). Again, these statements accord with common sense: forfeiting respondent's house punished him for the same narcotics violations as his criminal conviction.
This argument is unpersuasive because it is simply inaccurate to describe two separate proceedings as one. 20 I also cannot agree with the Government's view that there is any procedural obstacle to including a punitive forfeiture in the final judgment entered in a criminal case. The sentencing proceeding does not commence until after the defendant has been found guilty, and I do not see why that proceeding should not encompass all of the punitive sanctions that are warranted by the conviction. Indeed, a draft of a proposed amendment to the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure envisions precisely that procedure. See Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 32(d)(2) (eff. Dec. 1, 1996). 21 If, as we have already determined, the "civil" forfeitures pursuant to Section(s) 881(a)(7) are in fact punitive, a single judgment encompassing the entire punishment for the defendant's offense is precisely what the Double Jeopardy Clause requires. Congress' decision to create novel and additional penalties should not be permitted to eviscerate the protection against governmental overreaching embodied in the Double Jeopardy Clause. That protection has far deeper roots than the relatively recent enactments that have so dramatically expanded the sovereign's power to forfeit private property.
[ Footnote * ] Together with No. 95-346, United States v. $405,089.23 in United States Currency et al., on certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
[ Footnote 1 ] The Government raises three other challenges to the decisions that we review. First, focusing on the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in No. 95-345, the Government contends that the Double Jeopardy Clause applies only to prohibit a punishment imposed following a "jeopardy," and that a civil forfeiture, regardless whether it is a "punishment," is not a "jeopardy." Thus, because Ursery had not been placed in "jeopardy" in the civil forfeiture proceeding against his house, the Double Jeopardy Clause was inapplicable to his criminal prosecution. Second, the Government argues that the civil forfeiture of property is not the same offense as a criminal prosecution, and therefore that the double jeopardy protection against multiple punishments for the same offense is not at issue here. Finally, the Government argues that a civil forfeiture action that is parallel and contemporaneous with a criminal prosecution should be deemed to constitute a single proceeding within the meaning of the Double Jeopardy Clause.
[ Footnote 2 ] Justice Stevens' dissent is grounded in the different interpretation that he gives Halper. He finds that Halper announced "two different rules": a general rule, applicable to all civil sanctions, useful for determining whether a sanction is "of a punitive character"; and a "narrower rule," similar to our understanding of the case, that requires "an accounting of the Government's damages and costs." Post at 12. Justice Stevens faults us in this case for failing to apply the "general rule" of Halper.
The problem with Justice Stevens' interpretation of Halper, of course, and therefore with his entire argument, is that Halper did not announce two rules. Nowhere in Halper does the Court set forth two distinct rules or purport to apply a two-step analysis. Justice Stevens finds his "general rule" in a dictum from Halper: "`[a] civil sanction that cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose, but rather can only be explained as also serving either retributive or deterrent purposes, is punishment.'" Post, at 10, quoting United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 448 (1989). But the discussion immediately following that dictum makes clear that it states not a new and separate test for whether a sanction is a punishment, but rather only a rephrasing of Justice Stevens'"narrower" rule, i.e., the rule requiring an "accounting of the Government's damages and costs." Id., at 449. "We therefore hold that under the Double Jeopardy Clause a defendant who already has been punished . . . may not be subjected to an additional civil sanction to the extent that the second sanction may not fairly be characterized as remedial, but only as a deterrent or retribution.
[ Footnote 3 ] Justice Stevens mischaracterizes our holding. We do not hold that in rem civil forfeiture is per se exempt from the scope of the Double Jeopardy Clause. See post at 5-9. Similarly, we do not rest our conclusion in this case upon the long-recognized fiction that a forfeiture in rem punishes only malfeasant property rather than a particular person. See post, at 18-21. That a forfeiture is designated as civil by Congress and proceeds in rem establishes a presumption that it is not subject to double jeopardy. See, e.g., United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U.S. 354, 363 (1984). Nevertheless, where the "clearest proof" indicates that an in rem civil forfeiture is "so punitive either in purpose or effect" as to be equivalent to a criminal proceeding, that forfeiture may be subject to the Double Jeopardy Clause. Id., at 365.
"I am disturbed by the breadth of new civil forfeiture statutes such as 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7), which subjects to forfeiture all real property that is used, or intended to be used, in the commission, or even the facilitation, of a federal drug offense. As Justice O'Connor points out . . . since the Civil War we have upheld statutes allowing for the civil forfeiture of real property. A strong argument can be made, however, that Section(s) 881(a)(7) is so broad that it differs not only in degree, but in kind, from its historical antecedents. . . . Indeed, it is unclear whether the central theory behind in rem forfeiture, the fiction `that the thing is primarily considered the offender,' J. W. Goldsmith, Jr.-Grant Co. v. United States, 254 U. S. 505, 511 (1921), can fully justify the immense scope of Section(s) 881(a)(7). Under this provision, `large tracts of land [and any improvements thereon] which have no connection with crime other than being the location where a drug transaction occurred,' Brief for Respondents 20, are subject to forfeiture. It is difficult to see how such real property is necessarily in any sense `guilty' of an offense, as could reasonably be argued of, for example, the distillery in Dobbins's Distillery v. United States, 96 U. S. 395 (1878), or the pirate vessel in Harmony v. United States, 2 How. 210 (1844). Given that current practice under Section(s) 881(a)(7) appears to be far removed from the legal fiction upon which the civil forfeiture doctrine is based, it may be necessary-in an appropriate case-to reevaluate our generally deferential approach to legislative judgments in this area of civil forfeiture." United States v. James Daniel Good Real Property, 510 U.S. 43, 81 -82 (1993) (opinion concurring in part and dissenting in part) (footnotes omitted).
[ Footnote 6 ] If anything, the Double Jeopardy Clause ought to apply to a broader set of proceedings than the Self-Incrimination Clause. While the latter applies only in a "criminal case," the former concerns any type of "jeopardy," presumably a larger class of situations. See U. S. Const., Amdt. 5.
[ Footnote 7 ] The Court stated the full rule as follows: "Where a defendant previously has sustained a criminal penalty and the civil penalty sought in the subsequent proceeding bears no rational relation to the goal of compensating the Government for its loss, but rather appears to qualify as `punishment' in the plain meaning of the word, then the defendant is entitled to an accounting of the Government's damages and costs to determine if the penalty sought in fact constitutes a second punishment." United States v. Halper, 490 U.S. 435, 449 -450 (1989).
[ Footnote 8 ] Even if Austin had not followed Halper's rule for defining punishment, it would make little sense to say that forfeiture might be punishment "for the purposes of" the Excessive Fines Clause but not the Double Jeopardy Clause. It is difficult to imagine why the Framers of the two amendments would have required a particular sanction not to be excessive, but would have allowed it to be imposed multiple times for the same offense.
[ Footnote 9 ] Specifically, the tax was conditioned on the commission of a crime, 511 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 13), and it was levied on goods that the taxpayer did not own or possess at the time of imposition, id., at ___ (slip op., at 15-16).
[ Footnote 10 ] It is true, as the Court asserts, that a fine will only be considered "excessive" if it is disproportionate to any remedial goal. But Austin established that a forfeiture can also be excessive, although it could serve multiple remedial goals. Hence, I do not understand why the Court maintains that Austin did not prove that forfeitures are punitive. In order to count as a "fine" in the first place, a forfeiture must be capable of being punitive. A penalty that is not a "fine" cannot violate the Excessive Fines Clause, no matter how "excessive." See Browning-Ferris Industries of Vt., Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U.S. 257 (1989).
[ Footnote 11 ] See, e.g., Peisch v. Ware, 4 Cranch 347, 364 (1808) (Marshall, C. J.) ("[T]he act punishes the owner with a forfeiture of the goods"); J. W. Goldsmith, Jr.-Grant Co. v. United States, 254 U. S. 505, 510-511 (1921) (the owner of an automobile confiscated for its use in transporting liquor during Prohibition is "`properly punished by such forfeiture'") (quoting 1 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *301).
[ Footnote 12 ] Just this Term, we have reiterated this conclusion. See Libretti v. United States, 516 U. S. ___, ___ (1995) (slip op., at 9-10) ("[T]he in rem civil forfeiture authorized by 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(4) and (a)(7) is punitive in nature").
[ Footnote 13 ] The Court also speculates that nuisance abatement may provide a remedial interest. Ante, at 23. The abatement theory was questionable enough in Bennis v. Michigan, 516 U. S. ___ (1996), where under the State's theory the same acts might or might not turn an ordinary automobile into a nuisance, depending on the neighborhood in which the car happened to be parked. See id., at ___, n. 9 (slip op., at 7, n. 9) (Stevens, J., dissenting). Here, there is no argument that Ursery's home constituted some kind of a nuisance.
[ Footnote 14 ] Apparently recognizing the difficulty of reconciling its analysis of Section(s) 881(a)(7) with Austin's, the Court admits that the statute "perhaps ha[s] certain punitive aspects," but finds them outweighed by its "important nonpunitive goals." Ante, at 22. Again, that approach simply repudiates Halper, which defined as punishment for purposes of the Double Jeopardy Clause any sanction that "cannot fairly be said solely to serve a remedial purpose." 490 U.S., at 448 (emphasis added).
[ Footnote 15 ] "[A]lthough the owner of goods, sought to be forfeited by a proceeding in rem, is not the nominal party, he is, nevertheless, the substantial party to the suit; he certainly is so, after making claim and defence; and, in a case like the present, he is entitled to all the privileges which appertain to a person who is prosecuted for a forfeiture of his property by reason of committing a criminal offence." Boyd, 116 U. S., at 638.
[ Footnote 16 ] The Court suggests that the decision in Emerald Cut Stones rested on the fact that the second penalty was "in personam," ante, at 8, but the opinion of the Court did not even mention that term. In 89 Firearms, the Court discussed the fact that the forfeiture was in rem, but only for the rather obvious point that Congress intended the proceeding to be "civil."
[ Footnote 17 ] "That case, United States v. La Franca, 282 U. S. 568 (1931), observed that the words `tax' and `penalty' `are not interchangeable, one for the other' and that `if an exaction be clearly a penalty it cannot be converted into a tax by the simple expedient of calling it such.' Id., at 572. See also Lipke v. Lederer, 259 U. S. 557, 561 (1922) (`The mere use of the word "tax" in an act primarily designed to define and suppress crime is not enough to show that within the true intendment of the term a tax was laid')." Department of Revenue of Mont. v. Kurth Ranch, 511 U. S. ___, ___, n. 15 (slip op., at ___, n. 15) (1994).
[ Footnote 19 ] As I have emphasized, the determination that 21 U. S. C. Section(s) 881(a)(7) is a punitive statute is perfectly consistent with a conclusion that other types of sanctions are remedial. For example, I would expect that many types of administrative licensing sanctions are remedial in the relevant sense of our cases. See Comment, Administrative Driver's License Suspension: A Remedial Tool That is Not in Jeopardy, 45 Am. U. L. Rev. 1151 (1996) (arguing that suspension of a driver's license after conviction for drunk driving is a remedial sanction under the logic of Halper, Austin, and Kurth Ranch).
[ Footnote 20 ] In Kurth Ranch we explicitly noted that the tax assessment and the prosecution were "separate legal proceedings." 511 U. S., at ___, (slip op., at 4).
[ Footnote 21 ] According to the Rule, once there is a finding that property is subject to a criminal forfeiture, the court may enter a preliminary forfeiture order. The order also authorizes the Attorney General to seize the property, conduct any necessary discovery, and begin proceedings to protect the rights of third parties. The order of forfeiture becomes a part of the sentence and is included in the judgment.

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