Cite as: 518 U. S. 267 (1996)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
property shall be forfeited under this paragraph . . . by reason of any act or omission established by that owner to have been committed or omitted without the knowledge or consent of that owner." Ibid. (emphasis added). In Austin, we held that the exemption revealed a "congressional intent to punish only those involved in drug trafficking" because " 'the traditional criminal sanctions . . . are inadequate to deter or punish the enormously profitable trade in dangerous drugs.' " 509 U. S., at 619, 620 (quoting S. Rep. No. 98-225, at 191). See also 509 U. S., at 628 (Scalia, J., concurring in part and concurring in judgment) (suggesting that proportionality of a forfeiture be measured by the relationship of the property to the underlying offense). Again, these statements accord with common sense: Forfeiting respondent's house punished him for the same narcotics violations as his criminal conviction.
IV
The final argument advanced by the Government is that the forfeiture and the criminal conviction should be treated as having occurred in the same proceeding because both were commenced before a final judgment was entered in either. Emphasizing the fact that the Double Jeopardy Clause, and particularly the prohibition against multiple punishments for the same offense, protects the defendant's legitimate expectation of finality in the original sentence, the Government maintains that such an expectation could not arise until after one proceeding was completed. Moreover, it argues, the civil and criminal sanctions "cannot be (and never have been) joined together in a single trial under our system of justice." Brief for United States 55.
This argument is unpersuasive because it is simply inaccurate to describe two separate proceedings as one.17 I also
cannot agree with the Government's view that there is any
17 In Kurth Ranch we explicitly noted that the tax assessment and the prosecution were "separate legal proceedings." 511 U. S., at 772.
319
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