I plead the 5th

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.



In this one amendment, so many items are covered it's kind of hard to interpret. The first part of this one means that no one can be prosecuted for a major crime without the use of a grand jury. I.E. If I kidnapped someone I could not receive punishment for it unless I had been tried in a court with a grand jury present. Unless, it was a crime committed within military services during time of war. I.E. the instance where the US troops took advantage of the Iraqi prisoners, tortured, beat, even killed them. Photos were released, an investigation was put into effect, and an independent panel was formed to review the evidence. Several were found guilty, demoted, fined, discharged, and other several criminal punishments were instilled.

Here is one of the photos released.

Next is the issue of Double Jeopardy. No person shall be charged of the same crime twice. For example, the OJ trials. When OJ was convicted of not guilty, and they found the bloody glove as new evidence. However, because OJ was found Not Guilty under the 5th amendment, he could not be tried again for that crime despite new evidence.

One shall not be compelled to be a witness against himself.

To take the 5th, is the refusal to testify on the ground that the testimony might tend to incriminate the witness in a crime, based on the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution which provides that "No person....shall be compelled to be a witness against himself," applied to state courts by the 14th Amendment. The term became famous during televised Senate committee hearings on organized crime in 1951, when a series of crime bosses "took the Fifth."

No private property shall be taken for public use, without just compensation.

For example if I own my house and the government wants to build a freeway in it's place, they must pay me fair market value in compensation for my house.

Another example is here: Just Compensation Case