1、Congressional Research Service The Library of CongressCRS Report for CongressReceived through the CRS WebOrder Code RS21701January 6, 2004A Sketch of Supreme Court Recognition ofFifth Amendment Protection for Acts ofProductionname redactedSenior SpecialistAmerican Law DivisionSummaryThe Fifth Amendm
2、ent to the United States Constitution declares in pertinentpart that, “No person . . . shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness againsthimself.” The United States Supreme Court has pointed that acts of production may fallwithin of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incriminati
3、on under somecircumstances. To do so they must satisfy the privileges general demands that requirea (1) personal, (2) governmentally compelled, (3) incriminating, (4) testimonial, (5)communication. The act of production doctrine is easily misunderstood for a number reasons. First,the protected commu
4、nication is most often implicit. The privilege covers anindividuals actions rather than his speech or writing, yet many incriminating actionssuch as providing a blood sample or a handwriting sample are ordinarily not protectedbecause they are not testimonial. Second, no bright line divides communica