Double jeopardy applies to successive punishments for the same offense.

• A. False
• B. True
• C. Only in civil cases
• D. Only in federal courts

Answer: (B)

Double jeopardy blocks being punished more than once for the same offense by the same government. Once there is a final judgment—an acquittal or a conviction—the government may not impose additional punishment for that same offense or retry the defendant for it. To decide whether two charges count as the same offense, courts use the Blockburger test: if each offense contains an element the other does not, they are separate offenses and may be punished separately; if not, they are the same offense and doing so would violate double jeopardy. The protection covers both federal and state prosecutions because the clause is applied to the states through incorporation. So the statement is correct.