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THE FIFTH AMENDMENT: by Mark L. Horwitz > People think of the Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination as a tool used bythose who have violated the law. This is simply wrong.
The founding fathers who drafted the Constitution knew that without this protection, governments throughout history abused their citizens and punished the innocent. The Law Offices of Mark L. Horwitz - A Professional Association 17 E. Pine St. Orlando, FL 32801 407-843-7733 mark@mlhorwitzlaw.com www.mlhorwitzlaw.com
Today, people have the misconception that simply because someone has invoked their Fifth Amendment privilege, that person must be guilty. This belief can not be further from the truth.
State and federal governments continuously pass criminal laws that set forth complicated and hard to understand provisions that criminalize conduct far beyond what the constitution’s authors ever imagined. The Supreme Court of the United States has on more than one occasion recognized that the Fifth Amendment’s basic function is to protect the innocent who might otherwise be ensnared by ambiguous circumstances. Those ambiguous circumstances have become more likely as the complexities of criminal laws continues to grow. In 2001, the
Supreme Court of the United States specifically ruled that a person can claim to be innocent and still properly invoke the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination. False confessions, long extended interrogations, mistakes by police and countless other factors have resulted in convictions of the innocent. The right of a person not to be forced to be “a witness against himself” is not reserved for the guilty. <
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4/9/08 5:23:45 PM
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