Cite as: 517 U. S. 292 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
tences allowed in the Seventh Circuit.5 We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict. 515 U. S. 1157 (1995).
II
Courts may not "prescrib[e] greater punishment than the legislature intended." Missouri v. Hunter, 459 U. S. 359, 366 (1983); Brown v. Ohio, 432 U. S. 161, 165 (1977). In accord with principles rooted in common law and constitutional jurisprudence, see Ex parte Lange, 18 Wall. 163, 168-170 (1874), we presume that "where two statutory provisions proscribe the 'same offense,' " a legislature does not intend to impose two punishments for that offense. Whalen v. United States, 445 U. S. 684, 691-692 (1980); Ball v. United States, 470 U. S. 856, 861 (1985).
For over half a century we have determined whether a defendant has been punished twice for the "same offense" by applying the rule set forth in Blockburger v. United States, 284 U. S. 299, 304 (1932). If "the same act or transaction constitutes a violation of two distinct statutory provisions, the test to be applied to determine whether there are two offenses or only one, is whether each provision requires proof of a fact which the other does not." Ibid. In subsequent applications of the test, we have often concluded that two different statutes define the "same offense," typically because one is a lesser included offense of the other.6
5 United States v. Aiello, 771 F. 2d 621, 634 (CA2 1985); United States v. Fernandez, 916 F. 2d 125, 128-129 (CA3 1990), cert. denied, 500 U. S. 948 (1991).
6 See, e. g., Ball v. United States, 470 U. S. 856, 861-864 (1985) (concluding that multiple prosecutions were barred because statutes directed at "receipt" and "possession" of a firearm amounted to the "same offense," in that proof of receipt "necessarily" included proof of possession); Whalen v. United States, 445 U. S. 684, 691-695 (1980) (concluding that two punishments could not be imposed because rape and felony murder predicated on the rape were the "same offense"); Brown v. Ohio, 432 U. S. 161, 167-168 (1977) (in multiple proceedings context, applying Blockburger
297
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007