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Amendment V
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The phrase ''taking the Fifth'' refers to the provision of the Fifth Amendment ensuring the right against self-incrimination :the right to refuse to answer questions in court that might lead either to indictment or punishment for an alleged crime. Finally, the Fifth Amendment contains a very open-ended guarantee, echoing the words of the preamble of the Declaration of Independence, that no person can be deprived of the fundamental rights of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
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The concern for protection of property is further emphasized in the prohibition of the taking of private property for public use ''without just compensation.'' In fact, federal and state governments have often taken control of private property (for example, for the purpose of building a highway or some other necessary public work) by using the doctrine of ''eminent domain.'' In those cases, the owners are compensated for the value of their property, although in many cases not without significant litigation.
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Although indictment by a grand jury is standard practice in important civil and criminal proceedings at the federal level, many states have not used this mechanism for securing indictments of accused criminals, believing that grand juries are unnecessarily costly and time-consuming. Although many of the provisions of the Bill of rights have been applied to the actions of state governments through the incorporation doctrine of the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court has not asserted that states are bound to conform to this particular provision of the Fifth Amendment.
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Reflecting long-standings of English common law, as well as the American perception that the British had violated those traditions in the years leading up to the American Revolution, the Fifth Amendment requires that people charged with capital crimes (i.e., a serious crime that falls under the jurisdiction of the federal courts) be first presented before a grand jury -- a group of ordinary citizens drawn from the population. Those serving in the military are not afforded that protection; they are to be tried in military courts, which set their own rules of judicial procedure.
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The provision of the Fifth Amendment preventing double jeopardy stipulates that individuals cannot be tried for the same crime more than once. If a defendant is acquitted of a crime, the government does not have the right to prosecute that individual again, and if a defendant is convinced, the government may not impose multiple punishments for the same crime.
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