Cite as: 521 U. S. 346 (1997)
Breyer, J., dissenting
II
Kansas' 1994 Act violates the Federal Constitution's prohibition of "any . . . ex post facto Law" if it "inflicts" upon Hendricks "a greater punishment" than did the law "annexed to" his "crime[s]" when he "committed" those crimes in 1984. Calder v. Bull, 3 Dall. 386, 390 (1798) (opinion of Chase, J.); U. S. Const., Art. I, § 10. The majority agrees that the Clause " 'forbids the application of any new punitive measure to a crime already consummated.' " California Dept. of Corrections v. Morales, 514 U. S. 499, 505 (1995) (citation omitted; emphasis added). Ante, at 370-371. But it finds the Act is not "punitive." With respect to that basic question, I disagree with the majority.
Certain resemblances between the Act's "civil commitment" and traditional criminal punishments are obvious. Like criminal imprisonment, the Act's civil commitment amounts to "secure" confinement, Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59- 29a07(a) (1994), and "incarceration against one's will," In re Gault, 387 U. S. 1, 50 (1967). See Testimony of Terry Davis, SRS Director of Quality Assurance, App. 52-54, 78-81 (confinement takes place in the psychiatric wing of a prison hospital where those whom the Act confines and ordinary prisoners are treated alike). Cf. Browning-Ferris Industries of Vt., Inc. v. Kelco Disposal, Inc., 492 U. S. 257, 298 (1989) (O’Connor, J., concurring in part and dissenting in part). In addition, a basic objective of the Act is incapacitation, which, as Blackstone said in describing an objective of criminal law, is to "depriv[e] the party injuring of the power to do future mischief." 4 W. Blackstone, Commentaries *11-*12 (incapacitation is one important purpose of criminal punishment); see also Foucha, 504 U. S., at 99 (Kennedy, J., dissenting) ("Incapacitation for the protection of society is not an unusual ground for incarceration"); United States v. Brown, 381 U. S. 437, 458 (1965) ("Punishment serves several purposes: retributive, rehabilitative, deterrent—and preventative. One of the reasons society imprisons those convicted
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