234
Opinion of the Court
neither the amendment's language, nor the legislative history of the 1990 Act, suggests that in this housekeeping measure, Congress intended to change, or to clarify, the fundamental relationship between the two subsections.
We also note that "the title of a statute and the heading of a section" are "tools available for the resolution of a doubt" about the meaning of a statute. Trainmen v. Baltimore & Ohio R. Co., 331 U. S. 519, 528-529 (1947); see also INS v. National Center for Immigrants' Rights, Inc., 502 U. S. 183, 189 (1991). The title of the 1988 amendment is "Criminal penalties for reentry of certain deported aliens." § 7345, 102 Stat. 4471 (emphasis added). A title that contains the word "penalties" more often, but certainly not always, see post, at 266-267, signals a provision that deals with penalties for a substantive crime.
In this instance the amendment's title does not reflect careless, or mistaken, drafting, for the title is reinforced by a legislative history that speaks about, and only about, the creation of new penalties. See S. 973, 100th Cong., 1st Sess. (1987), 133 Cong. Rec. 8771 (1987) (original bill titled, "A bill to provide for additional criminal penalties for deported aliens who reenter the United States, and for other purposes"); 134 Cong. Rec. 27429 (1988) (section-by-section analysis referring to Senate bill as increasing penalties for unlawful reentry); id., at 27445 (remarks of Sen. D'Amato) (law would "increas[e] current penalties for illegal reentry after deportation"); id., at 27462 (remarks of Sen. Chiles) (law would "impose stiff penalties" against deported aliens previously convicted of drug offenses); 133 Cong. Rec. 28840- 28841 (1987) (remarks of Rep. Smith) (corresponding House bill creates three-tier penalty structure). The history, to our knowledge, contains no language at all that indicates Congress intended to create a new substantive crime.
Finally, the contrary interpretation—a substantive criminal offense—risks unfairness. If subsection (b)(2) sets forth a separate crime, the Government would be required to
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