PART S - CONCLUSION
The Fifth Amendment's privilege against compelled self-incrimination is an
extremely important right of a person suspected of a crime. Confessions which
are obtained through coercion and unlawful inducements are simply not reliable.
The laws are not intended to frustrate the legitimate concerns of law
enforcement.
The purpose is to accommodate BOTH the need for effective
enforcement of our laws, as well as the equally important rights of the
criminal defendant.
The police officer who understands the basic laws which
govern this area will not be thwarted in the accomplishment of his job. As is
also true in the area of the Fourth Amendment (the law of search and seizure),
the difficulty is in attaining a balance between those two needs. It is the
frequently voiced debate concerning "the rights of the state versus the rights
of the individual."
The point that must be made is that there need be no
confrontation between the two interests at stake here; indeed, there cannot be.
Those who question persons suspected of criminal offenses must understand the
need to preserve the balance between these two interests.
If our law
enforcement officials understand the issues that are involved here, maintain
the necessary perspective, and act reasonably and with good faith, they will
find the courts are not their enemy.
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