314
Opinion of Stevens, J.
cently, in our application of Halper's definition of punishment, we stated that "[w]e do not understand the Government to rely separately on the technical distinction between proceedings in rem and proceedings in personam, but we note that any such reliance would be misplaced." Austin, 509 U. S., at 615, n. 9.13
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.14 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.
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.
13 The Court suggests that the decision in One Lot Emerald Cut Stones v. United States, 409 U. S. 232 (1972), rested on the fact that the second penalty was "in personam," ante, at 276, but the opinion of the Court did not even mention that term. In United States v. One Assortment of 89 Firearms, 465 U. S. 354 (1984), 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."
14 "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. 767, 777, n. 15 (1994).
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