It was important enough to the framers of the U.S. Constitution to be included in the first 10 amendments known as the Bill of Rights — that no person “shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.”
As part of the Fifth Amendment, the right against self-incrimination is well known to the general public thanks to years of legal and police procedural shows on television as well as instances of high-profile use in real life. The amendment also includes a right to due process and protects against being prosecuted twice for the same offense.
