Fifth Amendment

[ fifth uh-mend-muhnt, fith ]

noun

1. an amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1791 as part of the Bill of Rights, providing chiefly that people cannot be required to testify against themselves in a criminal case and that no person be subjected to a second trial for an offense for which they have been duly tried previously.

Fifth Amendment

noun

1. an amendment to the US Constitution stating that no person may be compelled to testify against himself and that no person may be tried for a second time on a charge for which he has already been acquitted
2. take the fifth or take the fifth amendment
   to refuse to answer a question on the grounds that it might incriminate oneself

Fifth Amendment

1. One of the ten amendments to the United States Constitution that make up the Bill of Rights . The Fifth Amendment imposes restrictions on the government's prosecution of persons accused of crimes. It prohibits self-incrimination and double jeopardy and mandates due process of law .

Notes

To “take the Fifth” is to refuse to testify because the testimony could lead to self-incrimination.

Example Sentences

This is thanks to the Fifth Amendment, which protects the conveyance of that as speech—but does not, importantly, extend to biometric security.

From Slate

Broom went to court, arguing that a second execution would constitute an additional punishment and would violate the Fifth Amendment guarantee that no one be tried or punished for the same crime twice.

From Slate

Supreme Court explained in 1985, quoting the original language and spelling of the Fifth Amendment, “The dual sovereignty doctrine provides that when a defendant in a single act violates the ‘peace and dignity’ of two sovereigns by breaking the laws of each, he has committed two distinct ‘offences’ for double jeopardy purposes.”

From Salon

At one point, the report says that when investigators tried to interview McDonnell, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

From Los Angeles Times

Defense lawyers argued that prosecuting DePape in a state court for the same criminal acts that he had already been convicted of in federal court amounted to double jeopardy, banned by Fifth Amendment.

From New York Times