If you have watched an organized-crime drama, you may have heard the phrase "I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me", uttered by a mobster on trial. This is also known as "taking the 5th", and it isn't just for mobsters. In the United States,the 5th amendment ( to the US Constitution ) guarantees us that no one can be forced to give testimony against himself or herself. Anyone else who refuses to testify in a US court can jailed for contempt of court.
So this isn't just an out-of-date provision forbidding tortured or coerced confessions ( which it does ). It's a modern prohibition of any forced testimony that might incriminate the person testifying.
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