Griffin v. California

E572467

Griffin v. California is a landmark 1965 U.S. Supreme Court decision holding that prosecutors and judges may not comment on a criminal defendant’s failure to testify, as this violates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

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Label Occurrences
Griffin v. California canonical 1

Statements (45)

Predicate Object
instanceOf United States Supreme Court case
landmark criminal procedure case
appliesTo state criminal prosecutions
areaOfLaw constitutional criminal procedure
self-incrimination
argued 1965-01-18
citation 380 U.S. 609
constitutionalProvisionInterpreted Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution NERFINISHED
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution NERFINISHED
country United States of America
surface form: United States
court Supreme Court of the United States
decided 1965-04-28
decisionDate 1965-04-28
dissentingOpinionBy John M. Harlan II NERFINISHED
Potter Stewart NERFINISHED
effect Incorporates the Fifth Amendment protection against adverse comment on silence to the states
Prohibits adverse jury instructions based on defendant’s failure to testify
fullCaseName Griffin v. State of California NERFINISHED
holding Comment on a defendant’s silence violates the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination as applied to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment
Judges may not instruct juries that they may draw adverse inferences from a defendant’s failure to testify
Prosecutors may not comment on a criminal defendant’s failure to testify at trial
joinedByInMajority Abe Fortas NERFINISHED
Arthur J. Goldberg NERFINISHED
Byron R. White NERFINISHED
Earl Warren NERFINISHED
Hugo L. Black NERFINISHED
William O. Douglas NERFINISHED
jurisdiction United States of America
surface form: United States
languageOfOpinion English
legalIssue comment on defendant’s failure to testify
majorityOpinionBy William J. Brennan Jr. NERFINISHED
overruledOrLimitedStatePractice California rule allowing comment on defendant’s failure to testify
page 609
party Edward Dean Griffin NERFINISHED
State of California NERFINISHED
precedentFor Carter v. Kentucky NERFINISHED
Lakeside v. Oregon NERFINISHED
Mitchell v. United States NERFINISHED
relatedDoctrine no-adverse-inference rule
privilege against self-incrimination
reporter United States Reports
result California conviction reversed
subjectMatter comment on defendant’s silence at trial
volume 380
yearDecided 1965

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