Fifth Amendment

It is important to know that the Supreme court has stated that the Miranda rights are "not themselves rights protected by the constitution", but are merely a way of proving that the fifth amendment has not been violated. This is because the fifth amendment forbids "compelled" self-incrimination, but a confession purely from one's own guilt and remorse is acceptable, even if not given in the presence of an attorney. Alternative methods to the Miranda rights have been suggested to congress, and in 1966 Chief Justice Earl Warren's opinion in Miranda encouraged Congress to develop alternative methods.

One of the most important questions to ask about law is: Why? If the point of the law is to achieve justice, then why is self-incrimination not allowed? Why is it that one cannot give evidence to serve justice if they are the offender? And the answer is fairly simple, to avoid false confessions. Evidence gotten from third parties is looked at more critically than a confession, so this keeps the police from forcing a confession out of an innocent person.

A very interesting example of the fifth amendment is Twining v. the State of New Jersey. Albert Twining and David Cornell were convicted of showing false banking papers to a New Jersey state Bank auditor. They refused to state whether the papers were false or not when put on the stand, pointing out the protection from self-incrimination. The courts rejected their claim though. The courts stated that Twining and Cornell confirming or denying the validity of the statements was part of the "due process of law" in the fifth amendment and fourteenth amendment.

Another interesting case was that of a confession that was later regretted. Unfortunately I do not have the name of the case. A person was picked up near Christmas Eve for the abduction and murder of a young girl. Because of the emotional time, the officers were instructed to not even attempt to interrogate the suspect. However, the suspect confessed out of his own guilt and regret. He told the officers where the body was. There was already a search team near the area, and the body was near the search area. They found the body and jailed the suspect. Later, the suspect claimed that the confession was coerced because his attorney was not present. However, his argument was rejected because the body would have been found in an hour or two based on the obviousness of the grave and the strategy of the search.

Chris Vincent

Fifth Amendment

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