blockburger test
Blockburger test. Criminal law. A test, for double-jeopardy purposes, of whether a defendant can be punished separately for convictions on two charges or prosecuted later on a different charge after being convicted or acquitted on a charge involving the same incident; a comparison of two charges to see if each contains at least one element that the other does not. • Although the test is frequently called the same-evidence test, that term is misleading since the analysis involves the elements of the charged offenses rather than the facts of the incident. Blockburger v. U.S., 284 U.S. 299, 304, 52 S.Ct. 180, 192 (1932). — Also termed same-elements test; actual-evidence test. Cf. SAME-CONDUCT TEST; SAME-TRANSACTION TEST. [Cases: Double Jeopardy 135, 136. C.J.S. Criminal Law § 246.]
