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A Clash Of Fundamental Rights: Conflicts Between The Fifth And Sixth Amendments In Criminal Trials, Roderick R. Ingram

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The United States Constitution's Fifth and Sixth Amendments protect the rights of criminal defendants and witnesses. The Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination protects witnesses from forced self-incrimination, and the Sixth Amendment provides criminal defendants with the right to cross-examine prosecution witnesses and to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses. These fundamental rights conflict when a prosecution witness invokes the Fifth Amendment privilege on cross-examination or when a defense witness invokes the privilege on direct-examination. A grant of either use or transactional immunity would remove the potential for self-incrimination, but courts are split on whether they possess the authority to grant …