Opinion ID: 1453499
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Halper Analysis

Text: Defendant and the court of appeals, however, do not rely solely on Grady. They also read Halper, which we discuss in greater detail in Section III of this opinion, as blurring the distinction between civil and criminal proceedings in a double jeopardy analysis. However, Halper, like Grady, does not provide any guidance on whether a particular proceeding is a prosecution. Indeed, the Halper Court states that: while recourse to statutory language, structure, and intent is appropriate in identifying the inherent nature of a proceeding, or in determining the constitutional safeguards that must accompany those proceedings as a general matter, the approach is not well suited to the context of the humane interests safeguarded by the Double Jeopardy Clause's proscription of multiple punishments. 490 U.S. at 447, 109 S.Ct. at 1901 (emphasis added). Thus, Halper does not reject the statutory interpretation approach for determining the criminal or civil nature of a proceeding. Rather, it distinguishes that inquiry from the analysis necessary to resolve a multiple punishment claim. The notion of punishment ... cuts across the division between the civil and the criminal law, and for the purposes of assessing whether a given sanction constitutes multiple punishment barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause, we must follow the notion where it leads. Id. (emphasis added). Halper did not involve a second prosecution, nor did it alter the traditional statutory interpretation analysis of what constitutes a criminal proceeding. Id. at 440, 109 S.Ct. at 1897. Halper holds only that a civil sanction may, in the rare case, constitute punishment proscribed by the double jeopardy clause. Id. at 449, 109 S.Ct. at 1902. Thus, neither Halper nor Grady support the conclusion that defendant was prosecuted for the civil traffic violations. Halper does, of course, establish that a defendant may receive punishment for double jeopardy purposes in a civil proceeding. It does not, however, establish when a particular proceeding, though nominally civil, is in reality a criminal proceeding, and thus a prosecution at which jeopardy attaches for purposes of the multiple prosecution protection. For the answer to that question, we must turn to United States v. Ward, 448 U.S. 242, 100 S.Ct. 2636, 65 L.Ed.2d 742 (1980).