Cite as: 523 U. S. 224 (1998)
Syllabus
the beginning of subsection (b) have a meaning that is neither obscure nor pointless if subsection (b) is interpreted to provide additional penalties, but not if it is intended to set forth substantive crimes. Moreover, the circumstances of subsection (b)'s adoption support this reading of the statutory text. The title of the 1988 amendment—"Criminal penalties for reentry of certain deported aliens," 102 Stat. 4471 (emphasis added)—also signals a provision that deals with penalties for a substantive crime, and it is reinforced by a legislative history that speaks only about the creation of new penalties. Finally, interpreting the subsection to create a separate offense risks unfairness, for the introduction at trial of evidence of a defendant's prior crimes risks significant prejudice. See, e. g., Spencer v. Texas, 385 U. S. 554, 560. Pp. 229-235.
(c) Additional arguments supporting a contrary interpretation—that the magnitude of the increase in the maximum authorized sentence shows a congressional intent to create a separate crime, that statutory language added after petitioner's conviction offers courts guidance on how to interpret subsection (b)(2), and that the doctrine of constitutional doubt requires this Court to interpret the subsection as setting forth a separate crime—are rejected. Pp. 235-239.
(d) There is not sufficient support, in this Court's precedents or elsewhere, for petitioner's claim that the Constitution requires Congress to treat recidivism as an element of the offense irrespective of Congress' contrary intent. At most, In re Winship, 397 U. S. 358, 364; Mullaney v. Wilbur, 421 U. S. 684, 704; Patterson v. New York, 432 U. S. 197; and Specht v. Patterson, 386 U. S. 605, taken together, yield the broad proposition that sometimes the Constitution does require (though sometimes it does not require) the State to treat a sentencing factor as an element of the crime, but they offer no more support than that for petitioner's position. And a legislature's decision to treat recidivism, in particular, as a sentencing factor rather than an element of the crime does not exceed constitutional limits on the legislature's power to define the elements of an offense. McMillan v. Pennsylvania, supra, distinguished. Petitioner's additional arguments—that courts have a tradition of treating recidivism as an element of the related crime, and that this Court should simply adopt a rule that any significant increase in a statutory maximum sentence would trigger a constitutional "elements" requirement—are rejected. Pp. 239-247.
(e) The Court expresses no view on whether some heightened standard of proof might apply to sentencing determinations bearing significantly on the severity of sentence. Cf. United States v. Watts, 519 U. S. 148, 156, and n. 2 (per curiam). Pp. 247-248.
113 F. 3d 515, affirmed.
225
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