Self-incrimination, privilege against

The constitutional right of a person torefuse to answer questions or otherwise give testimony against himself thatwill create substantial likelihood of criminal incrimination. The privilege canbe displaced by a grant of use immunity, which guarantees that neither thecompelled testimony nor any fruits will be used against the witness. Given suchimmunity, the witness is no longer exposed to the hazard of self-incriminationand thus must respond to questions or provide evidence. It should be emphasizedthat the privilege against self-incrimination, like all constitutional rights,may be waived. Miranda warnings are generally necessary before such a waiverwill be found to qualify a confession as admissible evidence in a criminaltrial.