Cite as: 518 U. S. 267 (1996)
Kennedy, J., concurring
§ 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 41. Today the Court holds that the civil in rem forfeitures here are not punishment implicating the protections of the Double Jeopardy Clause. Ante, at 292. 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 wrong-doer 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 274.
"[This] forfeiture proceeding . . . is in rem. It is the property which is proceeded against, and, by resort to a legal fiction, held guilty and condemned as though it were conscious instead of inanimate and insentient. In a criminal prosecution it is the wrongdoer in person who is proceeded against, convicted and punished. The forfeiture is no part of the punishment for the criminal offense. The provision of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution in respect of double jeopardy does not apply." 282 U. S., at 581 (citations omitted).
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