138
Stevens, J., dissenting
it relies on settled usage and the reader's common sense to impart the same meaning.
In certain sections of the Code, even absent a definition, the context makes perfectly clear that the word "subsequent" describes only those offenses committed after a prior conviction has become final. Title 18 U. S. C. § 1302, for instance, which prohibits mailing of lottery tickets, authorizes a 5-year prison sentence for "any subsequent offense." A literal reading of that phrase, like the one adopted by the majority today, presumably would justify imposition of five 5-year sentences if a defendant who sold six lottery tickets through the mail were charged in a single indictment. But it is absurd to think that Congress intended to treat such a defendant as a repeat offender, subject to penalty enhancement, "simply because he managed to evade detection, prosecution, and conviction for the first five offenses and was ultimately tried for all six in a single proceeding." Ante, at 137.
In other Code sections, where context is less illuminating, the long-established usage of the word "subsequent" to distinguish between first offenders and recidivists is sufficient to avoid misunderstanding by anyone familiar with federal criminal practice.3 Thus, in a 1955 opinion construing the undefined term "subsequent offense," the First Circuit noted that most "subsequent offender" statutes had been construed to provide that any offense "committed subsequent to a conviction calls for the increased penalty." Gonzalez v. United States, 224 F. 2d 431, 434 (1955). The court continued:
"In the United States courts uniformly this has been held to be the rule. In Singer v. United States, [278 F. 415 (1922)], the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit considered a substantially similar statute to that presently before us and held that a second offense within the
3 See, e. g., 18 U. S. C. § 2114 ("subsequent offense" of mail robbery), as interpreted in United States v. Cooper, 580 F. 2d 259, 261 (CA7 1978) ("obvious" that "subsequent offense" language must be read as applying only to offenses committed after conviction on a prior offense).
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