The Fifth Amendment bars compelled self-testimony and prosecutorial comment on silence

Evidence

Thus, the Fifth Amendment, along with analogous state guarantees, forbids compelling witnesses to testify against themselves. Indeed, the prosecution cannot even comment on the defendant’s failure to testify, and jurors are cautioned not to draw any inferences from the defendant’s refusal to take the stand. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1311

Categorization

• DEFINE: Clarifies the scope of the self-incrimination privilege, including its prohibition on adverse comment and juror inference.
• XREF: connects to: The Supreme Court has narrowed the constitutional right to confront witnesses — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 1308; Courts construe legislative silence as deliberate intent, though silence admits other readings — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process: Basic Problems in…, 4205; Being silenced by privilege should provoke investigation, not mute self-abjection. — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader: Selected Works of…, 40 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Compulsory self-expression serves repressive power, and silence is its antidote #corroborates (1.00)
• Colonial authority pre-emptively silences the colonized’s own testimony #expands (0.95)
• Speech requires prior solitude and the right to stay silent #qualifies (0.90) — Byung-Chul Han, Psychopolitics, 190
• Being silenced by privilege should provoke investigation, not mute self-abjection. #complicates (0.85) — Donna Landry and Gerald MacLean, The Spivak Reader, 40
• Courts construe legislative silence as deliberate intent, though silence admits other readings #complicates (0.80) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 4205
• Invoking the Fifth Amendment at HUAC hearings could itself trigger contempt indictments. #complicates (0.80)
• A penal statute’s silence on a subject implies no legislative intent to regulate it #complicates (0.75) — Henry M. Hart, Jr. and Albert M. Sacks, The Legal Process, 1005