The Fifth Amendment

NARRATOR 1: What protections does an individual have against the government when accused of a crime?

The Fifth Amendment was designed to explicitly protect the rights of individuals from an overbearing government, and is one of the reasons that Americans can expect to receive due process if they are accused of a crime. By doing so, the Fifth Amendment limits the government and checks its power in several ways. 

NARRATOR 2: So what rights does this amendment protect, and how has this amendment been interpreted throughout U.S. history? This is the story of the Fifth Amendment.

NARRATOR 1: The Fifth Amendment has several different protections designed to support the rights of the accused and limit government. The first protection in the Fifth Amendment is the right to a grand jury, an essential right for those accused of crimes. The clause reads, quote, no person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia. When an actual service in time of war or public danger. 

NARRATOR 2: This part of the amendment protects the rights of the accused by guaranteeing a grand jury in cases involving significant crimes. The history of the Grand jury has a lineage stretching back to England and the American colonies. 

NARRATOR 1: The function of the grand jury is simple. They must decide whether there's enough evidence to bring an accused person to trial for a crime. If a grand jury decides there's not enough, the accused is allowed to go free. And when they decide there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing, the accused is indicted and scheduled for a trial to determine guilt or innocence.

NARRATOR 2: The Supreme Court has incorporated or applied most of the Bill of Rights to the states. However, the court has specifically not incorporated the grand jury protection and instead leaves it to each state to decide whether or not to have them. 

NARRATOR 1: The Fifth Amendment also protects the rights of the accused through a guarantee that a person cannot be tried more than once for committing a crime. In other words, people are protected from double jeopardy. The amendment reads, quote, nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb. 

NARRATOR 2: The ban on double jeopardy goes back several centuries to England, where jurist Sir William Blackstone noted that it was a, quote, universal maxim of the common law of England that no man is to be brought into jeopardy of his life more than once for the same offense. 

NARRATOR 1: This protection limits government by guaranteeing that individuals accused of crimes will not be the target of a zealous government prosecutor, who may try the person over and over until a jury returns a guilty verdict.

The third protection for the rights of the accused in the Fifth Amendment is the right to not be a witness against oneself for any criminal trial. This section reads, quote, no person shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. In other words, a person accused of a crime can refuse to give testimony that could possibly damage their own case during a criminal trial. Instead, they can, as is commonly said, plead the fifth and remain silent. 

NARRATOR 2: This right also applies to those who are questioned while in police custody. As made famous in the 1966 Supreme Court case of Miranda v. Arizona. In this landmark case, the court held that if police do not inform people they arrest about certain constitutional rights, including their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, then their confessions may not be used as evidence at trial. 

NARRATOR 1: Essentially, the right again limits government, this time by preventing it from coercing individuals accused of a crime to admit their guilt. The burden is on the government to prove guilt, not on individuals to prove their innocence.

The Fifth Amendment also asserts that individuals possess inalienable rights that the government cannot violate. An individual can forfeit those rights, such as a person convicted of a crime losing his or her freedom. But the government must follow both the rule of law and a series of procedures called due process. 

NARRATOR 2: The Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment states, quote, no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. This right has a long history in the English tradition, from the Magna Carta to the ideas of enlightenment philosopher John Locke to the Declaration of Independence.

NARRATOR 1: The Fifth Amendment ends with the specific protection of private property held by all individuals. It reads, quote, nor shall private property be taken for public use without just compensation. This prevents the government from seizing an individual's property unless it provides compensation. The process of taking private property for public use, such as building hospitals or schools, is called eminent domain. 

NARRATOR 2: In general, the clauses on due process and private property are protections of an individual's property against government overreach. However, when government takes someone's land for public use, controversy can easily arise. 

NARRATOR 1: For example, in the 2005 Supreme Court case of Kelo v. City of New London, the court ruled 5–4 to allow the government to take land as part of a private development if there are, quote, public benefits. In response, many people raised questions about whether the court had rightly decided this case and adequately protected private property. 

NARRATOR 2: If the court understands eminent domain to include broad and sweeping understandings of a public purpose or the public welfare, rather than a more specific public purpose, disputes about property rights will continue to reach the highest court.

NARRATOR 1: The Fifth Amendment contains several protections for the rights of the accused. It promotes the principle that as a nation, the United States is a natural rights republic that's defined by a limited government bound by the rule of law and dedicated to the core principle of justice. 

NARRATOR 2: How will this important amendment continue to protect individual rights from an oppressive government? And what future controversies and cases will reach the Supreme Court? This has been the story of the Fifth Amendment.