Cite as: 527 U. S. 526 (1999)
Opinion of Stevens, J.
In Smith, we carefully noted that our punitive damages standard separated the "quite distinct concepts of intent to cause injury, on one hand, and subjective consciousness of risk of injury (or of unlawfulness) on the other," 461 U. S., at 38, n. 6, and held that punitive damages are permissible only when the latter component is satisfied by a deliberate or recklessly indifferent violation of federal law. In Thurston, we interpreted the ADEA's standard the same way and explained that the relevant mental distinction between intentional discrimination and "reckless disregard" for federally protected rights is essentially the same as the well-known difference between a "knowing" and a "willful" violation of a criminal law. See 469 U. S., at 126-127. While a criminal defendant, like an employer, need not have knowledge of the law to act "knowingly" or intentionally, he must know that his acts violate the law or must "careless[ly] disregard whether or not one has the right so to act" in order to act "willfully." United States v. Murdock, 290 U. S. 389, 395 (1933), quoted in Thurston, 469 U. S., at 127. We have interpreted the word "willfully" the same way in the civil context. See McLaughlin v. Richland Shoe Co., 486 U. S. 128, 133 (1988) (holding that the "plain language" of the Fair Labor Standards Act's "willful" liquidated damages standard requires that "the employer either knew or showed reckless disregard for the matter of whether its conduct was prohibited by the statute," without regard to the outrageousness of the conduct at issue).
Construing § 1981a(b)(1) to impose a purely mental standard is perfectly consistent with the structure and purpose of the 1991 Act. As with the ADEA, the 1991 Act's "willful" or "reckless disregard" standard respects the Act's "two-tiered" damages scheme while deterring future intentionally unlawful discrimination. See Hazen Paper, 507 U. S., at 614-615. There are, for reasons the Court explains, see ante, at 536- 537, numerous instances in which an employer might intentionally treat an individual differently because of her race,
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