Title: Fifth Amendment All About Protecting Individual Rights - New Jersey State Bar Foundation
Headings: Fifth Amendment All About Protecting Individual Rights
Fifth Amendment All About Protecting Individual Rights
Grand Jury
Double Jeopardy
Taking the Fifth
Due Process and the Takings Clause
Discussion Questions

Content: Taking the Fifth
The concept behind the right against self-incrimination (“nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself…”) is that individuals charged with a crime should be proven guilty. Defendants should not have to prove their innocence. The Miranda Warning, another term you may have heard of from television and movies, comes from this Fifth Amendment right. The requirement that law enforcement advise a suspect of his or her right against self-incrimination derives from the 1966 U.S. Supreme Court case of Miranda v. Arizona. Ernesto Miranda was arrested in 1963 and accused of the rape and kidnapping of an 18-year-old woman. Miranda confessed to the crime under police questioning; however, his attorney argued that Miranda wasn’t informed that he did not have to speak to police, or that he could request an attorney. The Court held in Miranda that “the prosecution may not use statements…stemming from custodial interrogation of the defendant unless it demonstrates the use of procedural safeguards effective to secure the privilege against self-incrimination.” In other words, the police are required to advise suspects in custody of their rights under the U.S. Constitution. As a result of the Court’s ruling, Miranda’s conviction was thrown out and his confession could not be used against him at his re-trial.