Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/402/424/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 00:06:08+00:00

Document:
Respondent demurred to a count of an indictment charging him with violating Cal.Vehicle Code § 20002(a)(1) (Supp. 1971) by failing to stop and furnish his name and address after involvement in an automobile accident, resulting in damage to property, on the ground that compliance would have violated his privilege against self-incrimination. His demurrer was sustained by the California Supreme Court, which held that compliance confronted respondent with "substantial hazards of self-incrimination," but upheld the statute by inserting a use restriction on the information disclosed. That court concluded that it would be unfair to punish respondent, since he could not reasonably have anticipated the use restriction.
Held: The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded. Pp. 402 U. S. 427-458.
71 Cal.2d 1039, 458 P.2d 465, vacated and remanded.
1. Compliance with this essentially regulatory and noncriminal statute, where self-reporting is indispensable to its fulfillment, where the burden is on "the public at large," as distinguished from a "highly selective group inherently suspect of criminal activities," and where the possibility of incrimination is not substantial, does not infringe the privilege against self-incrimination. Pp. 402 U. S. 427-431.
2. Even assuming that the statutory requirement of the essentially neutral act of disclosing name and address is incriminating in the traditional sense, it would be an extravagant extension of the privilege to hold that it is testimonial in the Fifth Amendment sense. Just as there is no constitutional right to refuse to file an income tax return, there is no constitutional right to flee the scene of an accident to avoid any possible legal involvement. Pp. 402 U. S. 431-434.
financial responsibility for accident), the necessity for self-reporting as a means of securing the information, and the limited nature of the required disclosures which leaves the "accusatorial" burden upon the State, the purposes of the Fifth Amendment do not warrant a use restriction as a condition of enforcement of the statute. Pp. 402 U. S. 434-458.
BURGER, C.J., announced the Court's judgment and delivered an opinion, in which STEWART, WHITE, and BLACKMUN, JJ., joined. HARLAN, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, post, p. 402 U. S. 434. BLACK, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which DOUGLAS and BRENNAN, JJ., joined, post, p. 402 U. S. 459. BRENNAN, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which DOUGLAS and MARSHALL, JJ., joined, post, p. 402 U. S. 464.
This case presents the narrow but important question of whether the constitutional privilege against compulsory self-incrimination is infringed by California's so-called "hit and run" statute which requires the driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident to stop at the scene and give his name and address. Similar "hit and run" or "stop and report" statutes are in effect in all 50 States and the District of Columbia.
§ 21750 (Supp. 1971). The second count charged that Byers had been involved in an accident, but had failed to stop and identify himself as required by § 20002(a)(1) (Supp. 1971).
"The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting in damage to any property including vehicles shall immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident and shall then and there . . . [l]ocate and notify the owner or person in charge of such property of the name and address of the driver and owner of the vehicle involved. . . ."
Cal.2d 1039, 1047, 458 P.2d 465, 471 (1969). Here, the court found that Byers' apprehensions were reasonable because compliance with § 20002(a)(1) confronted him with "substantial hazards of self-incrimination." Nevertheless the court upheld the validity of the statute by inserting a judicially created use restriction on the disclosures that it required. The court concluded, however, that it would be "unfair" to punish Byers for his failure to comply with the statute, because he could not reasonably have anticipated the judicial promulgation of the use restriction. [Footnote 3] We granted certiorari to assess the validity of the California Supreme Court's premise that, without a use restriction, § 20002(a)(1) would violate the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination. We conclude that there is no conflict between the statute and the privilege.
Whenever the Court is confronted with the question of a compelled disclosure that has an incriminating potential, the judicial scrutiny is invariably a close one. Tension between the State's demand for disclosures and the protection of the right against self-incrimination is likely to give rise to serious questions. Inevitably these must be resolved in terms of balancing the public need, on the one hand, and the individual claim to constitutional protections, on the other; neither interest can be treated lightly.
In each of thee situations, there is some possibility of prosecution -- often a very real one -- for criminal offenses disclosed by or deriving from the information that the law compels a person to supply. Information revealed by these report could well be "a link in the chain" of evidence leading to prosecution and conviction. But, under our holdings, the mere possibility of incrimination is insufficient to defeat the strong policies in favor of a disclosure called for by statutes like the one challenged here.
Sullivan's tax return, of course, increased his risk of prosecution and conviction for violation of the National Prohibition Act. But the Court had no difficulty in concluding that an extension of the privilege to cover that kind of mandatory report would have been unjustified. In order to invoke the privilege it is necessary to show that the compelled disclosures will themselves confront the claimant with "substantial hazards of self-incrimination."
"In Sullivan, the questions in the income tax return were neutral on their face and directed at the public at large, but here they are directed at a highly selective group inherently suspect of criminal activities. Petitioners' claims are not asserted in an essentially noncriminal and regulatory area of inquiry, but against an inquiry in an area permeated with criminal statutes, where response to any of the . . . questions in context might involve the petitioners in the admission of a crucial element of a crime."
gambling tax and registration requirements. It was also followed in Haynes where petitioner had been prosecuted for failure to register a firearm as required by federal statute. In each of these cases the Court found that compliance with the statutory disclosure requirements would confront the petitioner with "substantial hazards of self-incrimination." E.g., Marchetti v. United States, 390 U.S. at 390 U. S. 61.
In all of these cases, the disclosures condemned were only those extracted from a "highly selective group inherently suspect of criminal activities" and the privilege was applied only in "an area permeated with criminal statutes" -- not in "an essentially noncriminal and regulatory area of inquiry." E.g., Albertson v. SACB, 382 U.S. at 382 U. S. 79; Marchetti v. United States, 390 U.S. at 390 U. S. 47.
Although the California Vehicle Code defines some criminal offenses, the statute is essentially regulatory, not criminal. The California Supreme Court noted that § 20002(a)(1) was not intended to facilitate criminal convictions but to promote the satisfaction of civil liabilities arising from automobile accidents. In Marchetti, the Court rested on the reality that almost everything connected with gambling is illegal under "comprehensive" state and federal statutory schemes. The Court noted that, in almost every conceivable situation, compliance with the statutory gambling requirements would have been incriminating. Largely because of these pervasive criminal prohibitions, gamblers were considered by the Court to be "a highly selective group inherently suspect of criminal activities."
274 U. S. 259 (1927). It is difficult to consider this group as either "highly selective" or "inherently suspect of criminal activities." Driving an automobile, unlike gambling, is a lawful activity. Moreover, it is not a criminal offense under California law to be a driver "involved in an accident." An accident may be the fault of others; it may occur without any driver having been at fault. No empirical data are suggested in support of the conclusion that there is a relevant correlation between being a driver and criminal prosecution of drivers. So far as any available information instructs us, most accidents occur without creating criminal liability even if one or both of the drivers are guilty of negligence as a matter of tort law.
blood. United States v. Wade, 388 U. S. 218, 388 U. S. 221-223 (1967); Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757, 384 U. S. 764 and n. 8 (1966); 8 J. Wigmore, Evidence § 2265, pp. 386-400 (McNaughton rev.1961). Disclosure of name and address is an essentially neutral act. Whatever the collateral consequences of disclosing name and address, the statutory purpose is to implement the state police power to regulate use of motor vehicles.
"the privilege is a bar against compelling 'communications' or 'testimony,' but . . . compulsion which makes a suspect or accused the source of 'real or physical evidence' does not violate it."
There, the petitioner had been compelled to undergo the forcible withdrawal of blood samples for alcohol content analysis, and the Court sustained this procedure over petitioner's claim that he had been compelled to furnish evidence against himself. See also Holt v. United States, 218 U. S. 245, 218 U. S. 252 (1910) (Holmes, J.) (requiring defendant to model a blouse would be barred only by "an extravagant extension of the Fifth Amendment").
Stopping in compliance with § 20002(a)(1) therefore does not provide the State with "evidence of a testimonial or communicative nature" within the meaning of the Constitution. Schmerber v. California, supra, at 384 U. S. 761.
It merely provides the State and private parties with the driver's identity for, among other valid state needs, the study of causes of vehicle accidents and related purposes, always subject to the driver's right to assert a Fifth Amendment privilege concerning specific inquiries.
Respondent argues that, since the statutory duty to stop is imposed only on the "driver of any vehicle involved in an accident," a driver's compliance is testimonial because his action gives rise to an inference that he believes that he was the "driver of [a] vehicle involved in an accident." From this, the respondent tells us, it can be further inferred that he was indeed the operator of an "accident involved" vehicle. In Wade, however, the Court rejected the notion that such inferences are communicative or testimonial. There, the respondent was placed in a lineup to be viewed by persons who had witnessed a bank robbery. At one point, he was compelled to speak the words alleged to have been used by the perpetrator. Despite the inference that the respondent uttered the words in his normal undisguised voice, the Court held that the utterances were not of a "testimonial" nature in the sense of the Fifth Amendment privilege even though the speaking might well have led to identifying him as the bank robber. United States v. Wade, supra, at 388 U. S. 222-223. Furthermore, the Court noted in Wade that no question was presented as to the admissibility in evidence at trial of anything said or done at the lineup. Id. at 388 U. S. 223. Similarly no such problem is presented here. Of course, a suspect's normal voice characteristics, like his handwriting, blood, fingerprints, or body may prove to be the crucial link in a chain of evidentiary factors resulting in prosecution and conviction. Yet such evidence may be used against a defendant.
Although identity, when made known, may lead to inquiry that, in turn, leads to arrest and charge, those developments depend on different factors and independent evidence. Here, the compelled disclosure of identity could have led to a charge that might not have been made had the driver fled the scene; but this is true only in the same sense that a taxpayer can be charged on the basis of the contents of a tax return or failure to file an income tax form. There is no constitutional right to refuse to file an income tax return, or to flee the scene of an accident in order to avoid the possibility of legal involvement.
The judgment of the California Supreme Court is vacated, and the case is remanded for further proceedings not inconsistent with this opinion.
"[l]eave in a conspicuous place on the vehicle or other property damaged a written notice giving the name and address of the driver and of the owner of the vehicle involved and a statement of the circumstances thereof and shall without unnecessary delay notify the police department. . . ."
The California Vehicle Code also requires drivers involved in accidents resulting in personal injury or death to file accident reports, but there is a statutory use restriction for these compelled disclosures. §§ 20012-20013.
Presumably the California holding contemplated that persons who fail to comply with the statute in the future will be subject to prosecution and conviction, since the use restriction removed the justification for a reasonable apprehension of self-incrimination. Our disposition removes the premise upon which the use restriction rested.
See Shapiro v. United States, 335 U. S. 1 (1948).
"As the defendant's income was taxed, the statute of course required a return. . . . In the decision that this was contrary to the Constitution, we are of opinion that the protection of the Fifth Amendment was pressed too far. If the form of return provided called for answers that the defendant was privileged from making he could have raised the objection in the return, but could not on that account refuse to make any return at all."
274 U.S. at 274 U. S. 263 (emphasis added).
We are not called on to decide, but if the dictum of the Sullivan opinion were followed, the driver having stopped and identified himself, pursuant to the statute, could decline to make any further statement. United States v. Sullivan, supra, at 274 U. S. 263.
Code (Supp. 1971). [Footnote 2/1] The parties have stipulated that the accident was caused by respondent's violation of § 21750 of the California Vehicle Code. App. 36. The California Supreme Court has held that in circumstances where a driver involved in an accident has reason to believe his compliance with § 20002(a) creates a substantial risk of disclosure of incriminating evidence, the Fifth Amendment requires that the State must either excuse his noncompliance if he properly pleads the privilege against self-incrimination in a subsequent prosecution for failure to comply or forgo the use of any information disclosed by the State's compulsion. Construing the state statute as wholly nonprosecutorial in purpose, the court then held that imposition of a restriction on the use of the information or its fruits in a subsequent criminal prosecution for the conduct causing the accident would be consistent with the state legislative purpose.
certainly be "testimonial." If all that is offered at trial is the identification evidence of third-party witnesses, it still does not follow from United States v. Wade, 388 U. S. 218 (1967), that, because the policies of the Fifth Amendment are not significantly affected by state compulsion to cooperate in the production of real evidence where the State has independently focused investigation on the defendant, these policies are similarly unaffected where the State in pursuit of "real" evidence -- demands of the defendant that he focus the investigation on himself. See generally Mansfield, The Albertson Case: Conflict Between the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination and the Government's Need for Information, 1966 Sup.Ct.Rev. 103, 121-124.
It may be said that requiring the defendant to focus attention on himself as an accident participant is not equivalent to requiring the defendant to focus attention on himself as a criminal suspect. And that proposition raises the underlying issue which we must resolve in this case: how do the various verbal formulations for assessing the legal significance of the risk of incrimination, developed by the Court primarily in the context of the criminal process, see Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U. S. 1, 378 U. S. 11-14 (1964); Hoffman v. United States, 341 U. S. 479 (1951), operate in the context of the state collection of data for purposes essentially unrelated to criminal prosecution?
inquiry is to get an incriminating answer. It is the effect of the answer that is determinative."
"To sustain [a claim of] privilege, it need only be evident from the implications of the question, in the setting in which it is asked, that a responsive answer to the question or an explanation of why it cannot be answered might be dangerous because injurious disclosure could result."
[Citing Hoffman, supra, and Mansfield, supra.] Byers v. Justice Court, 71 Cal.2d 1039, 1046, 458 P.2d 465, 470 (1969) (emphasis in original).
called the "real danger v. imaginary possibility" standard, see Emspak v. United States, 349 U. S. 190, 349 U. S. 209 n. 1 (1955), to the gambling reporting requirements imposed on the individual in order to determine the constitutionality of those requirements. See Marchetti v. United States, supra, at 390 U. S. 48-54; Grosso v. United States, supra, at 390 U. S. 66-67. A judicial tribunal whose position with respect to the elaboration of constitutional doctrine is subordinate to that of this Court certainly cannot be faulted for reading these opinions as indicating that the "inherently suspect class" factor is relevant only as an indicium of genuine incriminating risk as assessed from the individual's point of view. See also Haynes v. United States, 390 U. S. 85, 390 U. S. 95-98 (1968); Leary v. United States, 395 U. S. 6, 395 U. S. 16-18 (1969); and compare the dissenting opinion of Mr. Justice Frankfurter in the Kahriger case, supra.
for risks of incrimination, see Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. at 378 U. S. 11-14; Hoffman v. United States, 341 U. S. 479 (1951); Rogers v. United States, 340 U. S. 367, 340 U. S. 374 (1951); Brown v. Walker, 161 U. S. 591 (1896), I would have to reach the same conclusion. I am, however, for the reasons stated in the remainder of this opinion, constrained to hold that the presence of a "real" and not "imaginary" risk of self-incrimination is not a sufficient predicate for extending the privilege against self-incrimination to regulatory schemes of the character involved in this case.
"[i]t would be an extreme if not an extravagant application of the Fifth Amendment to say that it authorized a man to refuse to state the amount of his income because it had been made in crime."
"'perfectly clear [to him], from a careful consideration of all the circumstances in the case [that his statement of the amount of his income] cannot possibly have [a] tendency' to incriminate."
contained therein, even if wholly confined to a statement of his gross income, will, when combined with other evidence derived from independent sources, incriminate him. United States v. Burr, 25 F.Cas. 38, 40 (No. 14,692e) (CC Va. 1807). Nor can the "required records" doctrine of Shapiro v. United States, 335 U. S. 1 (1948), be invoked to avoid that conclusion, for that doctrine, as applied to this situation, would simply mean that the taxing power is of sufficient import to justify compelled self-incrimination.
If Mr. Justice Holmes' assertion that it would be an extreme, if not extravagant, extension of the Fifth Amendment to apply it in such a situation strikes a responsive chord, it is because the primary context from which the privilege emerges is that of the criminal process, both in the investigatory and trial phases. When applied in that context, the sole governmental interest that the privilege defeats is the enforcement of law through criminal sanctions. And, with regard to the witness' privilege, the judge can, for the most part, draw the line between "real" and "imaginary" risks of incrimination in the marginal cases, thereby offsetting the tendency for the privilege to become an absolute right not to disclose any information at all.
information and its fruits. See infra at 402 U. S. 444-447. See generally McKay, Self-Incrimination and the New Privacy, 1967 Sup.Ct.Rev.193, 229-231; Mansfield, supra, at 163-166. But that accommodation leaves the Government's capacity to utilize self-reporting schemes practically impaired by the necessary presumption that evidence used in a prosecution after the individual discloses his relationship to the regulated transaction would not have been available if the individual had not complied with the statute. In the context of "hit-and-run" statutes, a use immunity -- unless honored in the breach by consistent findings of "no taint" -- is likely to render doubtful the State's ability to prosecute in a large class of cases where illegal driving has caused accidents. On the other hand, it would seem unlikely that the state legislature will accept the California Supreme Court's invitation to override the use requirement if the legislative judgment is that the State's ability to use the criminal sanction is too severely handicapped by a use restriction. See infra at 402 U. S. 446-447. For the impact of a practically self-executing claim of privilege on the noncriminal objectives of the reporting requirement would be even more severe. Even under a use restriction, then, the choice open to the State is to forgo prosecution in at least a large number of accident cases involving illegal driving -- the precise situation where criminal sanctions are likely to be most appropriate -- or to forgo self-reporting in a large class of accident cases.
in the circumstances of this case will not, in fact, significantly interfere with the State's ability to enforce criminal sanctions relating to driving behavior where that behavior culminates in an accident causing property damage. [Footnote 2/4] That, in any event, seems to be the view he attributes to the California Supreme Court and the California Legislature. See opinion of MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, post at 475-476 and n. 10.
Legislature has explicitly subordinated the state's prosecutorial interest to the interest in obtaining the disclosure."
"In the present case, there is no problem of conflicting state and federal interests; it is the state which both demands disclosure of information in 'hit-and-run' accidents and prosecutes those who commit criminal acts on the highways. Imposing use restrictions in the present case merely involves this court in making a judgment, based on an assessment of probable legislative intent, that the Legislature would prefer to have the provisions of section 20002 of the Vehicle Code upheld even in cases involving possible criminal misconduct at the cost of some burden on prosecuting authorities in criminal cases arising out of or related to an accident covered by that section, rather than avoid that burden at the cost of significantly frustrating the important noncriminal objective of the legislation. Imposition of use restrictions in the present case will not preclude the Legislature from overriding our decision if it wishes by simply enacting legislation declaring that information derived from disclosures required by section 20002, subdivision (a), may be used in criminal prosecutions, in which case, the privilege could be claimed in appropriate situations."
subject to the disclosure requirements of the federal wagering tax. (Marchetti v. United States, supra, 390 U. S. 39, 390 U. S. 446, fns. 6.) Thus, the imposition of use restrictions in order to permit Congress to compel all wagerers to comply with the wagering tax law would have meant that, in almost all state prosecutions for wagering or related illegal activities, the state would be forced, if the defendant proved compliance with the federal law, to establish that its evidence was untainted. This situation might indeed seriously hamper such state prosecutions. By contrast, far from all criminal violations committed on the highways by drivers of motor vehicles involved property damage. The burden resulting from the imposition of use restrictions in the latter situation will exist only in those instances where property damage occurs in the course or as a result of a criminal violation committed on the highways by a driver."
"We conclude that criminal prosecutions of drivers involved in accidents will not be unduly hampered by rules that prosecuting authorities may not use information divulged as a result of compliance with section 20002, subdivision (a), of the Vehicle Code or the fruits of such information, and that, in prosecutions of individuals who have complied with that section, the state must establish that its evidence is not the fruit of such information."
the United States Supreme Court to reject the 'attractive and apparently practical' suggestion of imposing restrictions in Marchetti v. United States, supra, 390 U. S. 39, 390 U. S. 58, are absent in the present case, and we must, in order to fulfill our responsibility to protect the privilege against self-incrimination, hold that, where compliance with section 20002 of the Vehicle Code would otherwise be excused by an assertion of the privilege, compliance is, as in other cases, mandatory, and state prosecuting authorities are precluded from using the information disclosed as a result of compliance or its fruits in connection with any criminal prosecution related to the accident."
Byers v. Justice Court, supra, at 1055-1057, 458 P.2d at 476-477 (footnotes omitted).
cases where the feared results of dangerous driving have actually materialized. Of course, after the federal law premise has been removed, the State is free to conclude as a matter of state constitutional or legislative policy that continued imposition of use restrictions with respect to this category of cases would still be appropriate in light of the State's own assessment of the relevant regulatory interest at stake and the personal values protected by the privilege against self-incrimination.
Thus, the public regulation of driving behavior through a pattern of laws which includes compelled self-reporting to ensure financial responsibility for accidents and criminal sanctions to deter dangerous driving entails genuine risks of self-incrimination from the driver's point of view. The conclusion that the Fifth Amendment extends to this regulatory scheme will impair the capacity of the State to pursue these objectives simultaneously. For compelled self-reporting is a necessary part of an effective scheme of assuring personal financial responsibility for automobile accidents. Undoubtedly, it can be argued that self-reporting is at least as necessary to an effective scheme of criminal law enforcement in this area. The fair response to that latter contention may be that the purpose of the Fifth Amendment is to compel the State to opt for the less efficient methods of an "accusatorial" system. But see Schmerber v. California, 384 U. S. 757 (1966). But it would not follow that the constitutional values protected by the "accusatorial" system, see infra at 402 U. S. 450-451, are of such overriding significance that they compel substantial sacrifices in the efficient pursuit of other governmental objectives in all situations where the pursuit of those objectives requires the disclosure of information which will undoubtedly significantly aid in criminal law enforcement.
For while this Court's Fifth Amendment precedents have instructed that the Fifth Amendment be given a construction "as broad as the mischief against which it seeks to guard," Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U. S. 436, 384 U. S. 459-460 (1966) (quoting from Counselman v. Hitchcock, 142 U. S. 547, 142 U. S. 562 (1892)), and while the Court, in Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U. S. 1 (1964), treated the privilege as one of those fundamental rights to be "selectively incorporated" into the Fourteenth Amendment, it is also true that the Court has recognized that the "scope of the privilege [does not coincide] with the complex of values it helps to protect." Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. at 384 U. S. 762. And see MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN's concurring opinion in Marchetti, supra, and Grosso, supra, 390 U.S. at 390 U. S. 72-73. In the Schmerber case, the Court concluded that the impact of compelled disclosure of "non-testimonial" evidence on the values the privilege is designed to protect was insufficient to warrant a further restriction on the State's enforcement of its criminal laws. And the Court in Schmerber explicitly declined reliance on the implication of a "testimonial" limitation to be found in the language of the Fifth Amendment. 384 U.S. at 384 U. S. 761 n. 6.
"[t]he Constitution contains no formulae with which we can calculate the areas within this 'full scope' to which the privilege should extend, and the Court has therefore been obliged to fashion for itself standards for the application of the privilege. In federal cases stemming from Fifth Amendment claims, the Court has chiefly derived its standards from consideration of two factors: the history and purposes of the privilege, and the character and urgency of the other public interests involved. . . ."
v. United States, 116 U. S. 616 (1886), side by side with the balancing approach of Schmerber, and perceive nothing more subtle than a set of constructional antinomies to be utilized as convenient bootstraps to one result or another. But I perceive in these cases the essential tension that springs from the uncertain mandate which this provision of the Constitution gives to this Court.
its reach beyond the context of the criminal investigation or trial. The premise of the criminal sanction -- and the disgrace that goes with it -- is that it is more feared than the mere censure of our fellow members of society; although communal living requires us to be willing to disclose much to the government and our fellow citizens about our private affairs -- and although the fear of eventually having to disclose operates as an inhibiting factor on our personal lives -- it still makes sense to think of the Fifth Amendment as intended at least in part to relieve us of the very particular fear arising from the imposition of criminal sanctions.
cases appears to suggest that the presence of perceivable risks of incrimination, in and of itself, justifies imposition of a use restriction on the information gained by the Government through compelled self-reporting, I think that line of cases should be explicitly limited by this Court.
sanctions -- could, of course, be thought to present a significant threat to the values considered to underpin the Fifth Amendment, quite apart from any supposed illegitimate motives that might not be cognizable under ordinary canons of judicial review. As uncertain as the constitutional mandate derived from this portion of the Bill of Rights may be, it is the task of this Court continually to seek that line of accommodation which will render this provision relevant to contemporary conditions.
In other words, we must deal in degrees in this troublesome area. The question whether some sort of immunity is required as a condition of compelled self-reporting inescapably requires an evaluation of the assertedly noncriminal governmental purpose in securing the information, the necessity for self-reporting as a means of securing the information, and the nature of the disclosures required. See generally Mansfield, The Albertson Case: Conflict Between the Privilege Against Self-Incrimination and the Government's Need for Information, 1966 Sup.Ct.Rev. 103, 128-160.
excise tax upon persons 'engaged in the business of accepting wagers' or who conduct 'any wagering pool or lottery.' The persons affected by this language are a relatively small group, many of whom are engaged in activities made unlawful by state and federal statutes. But § 4401 is actually even more directly confined to that group. Section 4402(1) exempts from the tax wagers placed with a parimutuel wagering enterprise 'licensed under State law,' and § 4421 defines 'wager' to exclude most forms of unorganized gambling such as dice and poker, and defines 'lottery' to exclude commonly played games such as bingo and drawings conducted by certain tax exempt organizations. The effect of these exceptions is to limit the wagering excise tax under § 4401 almost exclusively to illegal, organized gambling."
"Moreover the code contemplates extensive recordkeeping reporting by persons obligated to pay the tax. But these are records and reports which would incriminate overwhelmingly. Section 6011(a) requires any person liable to pay a tax to file a return in accordance with the forms and regulations promulgated by the Secretary or his delegate. The regulations promulgating recordkeeping requirements and the requirement that taxpayers make a monthly return on Form 730 . . . were therefore formulated pursuant to specific congressional authority. That the return is intended to be a part of the wagering tax obligation is clear from the face of the return itself. . . ."
exclusion of the values protected by the Fifth Amendment. Cf. Grosso, supra, at 390 U. S. 76 (BRENNAN, J., concurring). In a very real sense, compliance with the statutory requirements involved in Marchetti and Grosso, followed by use of the information in a prosecution, reduced the "accusatorial system" to the role of a merely ritualistic confirmation of the "conviction" secured through the exercise of the taxing power. Those statutory schemes are hardly distinguishable from a governmental scheme requiring robbers to register as such for purposes of paying an occupational tax and a tax on the proceeds of their crimes. Cf. my Brother BRENNAN's opinion in the instant case, post at 402 U. S. 473.
circumstance giving rise to the duty to report; otherwise, the State, possessed as it is of increasingly sophisticated techniques of information gathering and storage, will, in the zealous pursuit of its noncriminal regulatory goals, reduce the "accusatorial system" which the Fifth Amendment is intended to secure to a hollow ritual.
§ 21750 of the California Vehicle Code. [Footnote 2/10] To characterize this burden as a merely ritualistic confirmation of the "conviction" secured through compliance with the reporting requirement in issue would be a gross distortion of reality; on the other hand, that characterization of the evidentiary burden remaining on the State and Federal Governments after compliance with the regulatory scheme involved in Marchetti and Grosso seems proper.
"The driver of a vehicle overtaking another vehicle proceeding in the same direction shall pass to the left at a safe distance without interfering with the safe operation of the overtaken vehicle. . . ."
He then went on to say that the question need not be reached because, there, the defendant had declined to make any return at all. Id. at 274 U. S. 264.
"[s]ince the amount of income earned by an individual engaged in crime is usually neither relevant to his prosecution for such crimes nor helpful to police authorities in determining that he committed crimes, [Holmes, J.'s, suggestion that the privilege would not apply to report of income earned] would seem . . . logical. . . ."
Opinion of MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, post at 402 U. S. 471 n. 7.
That, however, will not do. Mr. Justice Holmes' suggestion related to the particular case of a defendant whose income was earned entirely or largely from business in violation of the National Prohibition Act. Sullivan, supra, at 274 U. S. 262-263. I cannot treat as "imaginary" such a defendant's fear that supplying the Government with a statement of the amount of money derived from his crime will -- when combined with other evidence perhaps in the Government's hands -- prove helpful in securing his conviction for those crimes. That, of course, is the test MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN must -- consistently with his premises -- apply. See United States v. Burr, 25 F.Cas. 38, 40 (No. 14,692e) (CC Va. 1807); Hoffman v. United States, 341 U. S. 479 (1951). And since, on MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN's premises, he must judge the validity of the claim of privilege wholly from the defendant's point of view at the time he faces the decision whether or not to yield to governmental compulsion and supply the information, the issue cannot turn on whether or not the record as subsequently developed in a prosecution for income tax evasion shows that the Government actually had additional information on the defendant's criminal activities.
I note that the question whether the Fifth Amendment require "transactional" as well as "use" immunity, even in the context of the criminal process, has not been resolved by the Court. See Piccirillo v. New York, 400 U. S. 548 (1971). See also MR. JUSTICE WHITE's concurring opinion in Murphy v. Waterfront Comm'n, 378 U. S. 52, 378 U. S. 92 (1964).
That is a most difficult position to maintain. By compelling Byers to stop, the State compelled Byers to focus official attention on himself in circumstances which, I agree, involved for Byers a substantial risk of self-incrimination. In this circumstance, the State, if it is to prosecute Byers after the coerced stop, will bear the burden of proving that the State could have selected Byers out from the general citizenry for prosecution even if he had not stopped. With respect to automobile drivers, that would be a heavy burden indeed. I doubt this burden could be met in most cases of this sort consistent with a good faith judicial application of the rules relating to proof of an independent source of evidence.
See Friendly, The Fifth Amendment Tomorrow: The Case for Constitutional Change, 37 U.Cin.L.Rev. 671, 687-690 (1968).
My Brother BRENNAN's primary response to my view that significant interference with state regulatory goals unrelated to the deterrence of antisocial behavior through criminal sanctions may mean that there is no Fifth Amendment privilege even though, from the individual's point of view, there are "real," and not "imaginary," risks of self-incrimination is a citation to Mr. Justice Brandeis' distinguished dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 438, 277 U. S. 472-477 (1928). Brandeis' views were expressed in the context of a case where no such governmental interest could be said to be implicated; to sever those views from their context and transpose them ipso facto to the problem at hand is to slide softly into that "lake of generalities" from which confusion is sure to flow. Cf. opinion of MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN, post at 402 U. S. 469.
Marchetti v. United States, 390 U. S. 39 (1968); Grosso v. United States, 390 U. S. 62 (1968); Haynes v. United States, 390 U. S. 85 (1968); Leary v. United States, 395 U. S. 6 (1969).
It bears repeating that Byers was charged with passing another vehicle at an unsafe distance, see n. 1, supra; he was not charged with being involved in an automobile accident causing property damage. Although the California Supreme Court did not deal with § 21750 of the Vehicle Code, we may assume that the fact of the accident becomes relevant to the illegal passing charge only if the allegedly unsafe aspects of Byers' passing was the proximate cause of the resulting accident. Of course, the parties in the instant litigation stipulated to that effect. See App. 36. That stipulation certainly supports the conclusion that Byers faced a "real" and not "imaginary" risk of self-incrimination at the time he had to make his decision whether or not to stop. But on my analysis the presence of such risks is not a sufficient predicate for the assertion of the privilege in this regulatory context; we must also consider the impact on the "accusatorial system" of permitting the State to utilize the fruits of the coerced stop in a subsequent prosecution. For that purpose, the post hoc stipulation of the parties as to the legal cause of the accident in a subsequent prosecution for failing to stop is irrelevant.
My Brother BRENNAN, relying on Raley v. Ohio, 360 U. S. 423 (1959), apparently takes the position that, because I do agree that Marchetti and Grosso could fairly be read to support respondent Byers' refusal to comply with § 20002(a) on Fifth Amendment grounds, I am constrained to hold that, as a matter of federal due process, Byers cannot be prosecuted by the State. See post at 402 U. S. 477. On the premises set forth in my opinion, Byers' position is analytically indistinguishable from that of any individual whose claim of constitutional privilege with respect to primary behavior is defeated by a holding of this Court limiting a prior constitutional precedent. Raley, of course, recognized such a due process right in a factual setting involving a great deal more than retroactive application of a judicial ruling limiting prior constitutional precedent.
Since the days of Chief Justice John Marshall this Court has been steadfastly committed to the principle that the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against compulsory self-incrimination forbids the Federal Government to compel a person to supply information which can be used as a "link in the chain of testimony" needed to prosecute him for a crime. United States v. Burr, 25 F.Cas. 38, 40 (No. 14,692e) (CC Va. 1807). It is now established that the Fourteenth Amendment makes that provision of the Fifth Amendment applicable to the States. Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U. S. 1 (1964). The plurality opinion, if agreed to by a majority of the Court, would practically wipe out the Fifth Amendment's protection against compelled self-incrimination. This protective constitutional safeguard against arbitrary government was first most clearly declared by Chief Justice Marshall in the trial of Aaron Burr in 1807. United States v. Burr, supra. In erasing this principle from the Constitution the plurality opinion retreats from a cherished guarantee of liberty fashioned by James Madison and the other founders of what they proudly proclaimed to be our free government. One need only read with care the past cases cited in today's opinions to understand the shrinking process to which the Court today subjects a vital safeguard of our Bill of Rights.
establish an essential element of the crime under § 21750. It seems absolutely fanciful to suggest that he would not have faced a "substantial risk of self-incrimination," ante at 402 U. S. 431, by complying with the disclosure statute.
The plurality opinion also seeks to distinguish this case from our previous decisions on the ground that § 20002(a)(1) requires disclosure in an area not "permeated with criminal statutes" and because it is not aimed at a "highly selective group inherently suspect of criminal activities." Ante at 402 U. S. 430. Of course, these suggestions ignore the fact that this particular respondent would have run a serious risk of self-incrimination by complying with the disclosure statute. Furthermore, it is hardly accurate to suggest that the activity of driving an automobile in California is not "an area permeated with criminal statutes." Ibid. And it is unhelpful to say the statute is not aimed at an "inherently suspect" group because it applies to "all persons who drive automobiles in California." Ibid. The compelled disclosure is required of all persons who drive automobiles in California who are involved in accidents causing property damage. [Footnote 3/2] If this group is not "suspect" of illegal activities, it is difficult to find such a group.
prosecution for failure to file a tax return on the grounds that his income was illegally obtained. The Court there suggested that the defendant could lawfully have refused to answer particular questions on the return if they tended to incriminate him. [Footnote 3/3] Here, unlike Sullivan, the only information that the State requires Byers to disclose greatly enhances the probability of conviction for crime. As I have pointed out, if Byers had stopped and identified himself as the driver of the car in the accident, he would have handed the State an admission to use against him at trial on a charge of failing to maintain a safe distance while passing. Thus, Byers' failure to stop is analogous to a refusal to answer a particular incriminating question on a tax return, an act protected by the Fifth Amendment under this Court's decision in Sullivan. Cf. Marchetti v. United States, supra; Grosso v. United States, supra.
damage? Neither United States v. Wade, 388 U. S. 218 (1967), nor any other case of this Court has ever held that the State may convict a man by compelling him to admit that he is guilty of conduct constituting an element of a crime. Cf. United States v. Burr, supra. Yet the plurality opinion apparently approves precisely that result.
My Brother HARLAN's opinion makes it clear that today the Court "balances" the importance of a defendant's Fifth Amendment right not to be forced to help convict himself against the government's interest in forcing him to do so. As in previous decisions, this balancing inevitably results in the dilution of constitutional guarantees. See, e.g., Konigsberg v. State Bar, 366 U. S. 36, 366 U. S. 56 (1961) (BLACK, J., dissenting). By my Brother HARLAN's reasoning, it appears that the scope of the Fifth Amendment's protection will now depend on what value a majority of nine Justices chooses to place on this explicit constitutional guarantee, as opposed to the government's interest in convicting a man by compelling self-incriminating testimony. In my view, vesting such power in judges to water down constitutional rights does indeed "embark us" on Brother HARLAN's "uncharted and treacherous seas." Ante at 402 U. S. 458.
would only be denied the power to violate the Fifth Amendment by using the fruits of such compelled testimony against them in criminal proceedings. Instead of criticizing the Supreme Court of California for its rigid protections of individual liberty, I would, without more ado, affirm its judgment.
See Cal.Vehicle Code §§ 12275 (1960 and Supp. 1971).
"The driver of any vehicle involved in an accident resulting in damage to any property including vehicles shall immediately stop the vehicle at the scene of the accident and shall then and there either: "
"(1) Locate and notify the owner or person in charge of such property of the name and address of the driver and owner of the vehicle involved, or;"
"(2) Leave in a conspicuous place on the vehicle or other property damaged a written notice giving the name and address of the driver. . . ."
(Emphasis added.) Cal. Vehicle Code § 20002(a).
"If the form of return provided called for answers that the defendant was privileged from making, he could have raised the objection in the return, but could not on that account refuse to make any return at all. We are not called on to decide what, if anything, he might have withheld. Most of the items warranted no complaint. It would be an extreme if not an extravagant application of the Fifth Amendment to say that it authorized a man to refuse to state the amount of his income because it had been made in crime."
274 U.S. 259, 274 U. S. 263-264.
Although I have joined my Brother BLACK's opinion in this case, the importance of the issues involved and the wide range covered by the two opinions supporting the Court's judgment in this case make further comment desirable. Put briefly, one of the primary flaws of the plurality opinion is that it bears so little relationship to the case before us. Notwithstanding the fact that respondent was charged both with a violation of the California Vehicle Code which resulted in an accident, and with failing to report the accident and its surrounding circumstances as required by the statute under review, the plurality concludes, contrary to all three California courts below, that respondent was faced with no substantial hazard of self-incrimination under California law. My Brother HARLAN, by contrast, recognizes the inadequacy of any such conclusion. In his view, our task is to make the Bill of Rights "relevant to contemporary conditions" by simply not applying its provisions when we think the Constitution errs. Ante at 402 U. S. 454. In the context of the present case, this appears to mean that current technological progress enabling the Government more easily to use an individual's compelled statements against him in a criminal prosecution should be matched by frank judicial contraction of the privilege against self-incrimination lest the Government be hindered in using modern technology further to reduce individual privacy.
Needless to say, neither of these approaches is consistent with the Constitution.
This case arises from an attempt by the State of California to punish an assertion of the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination. Respondent Byers was charged with a statutory duty to report his involvement as a driver in an auto accident involving property damage. This he refused to do, and California seeks to impose criminal punishment for his refusal. Unlike the plurality, I believe that analysis of the question whether California may do so is inevitably tied to the circumstances of this case. I therefore turn to the record.
Respondent was initially charged in Justice Court with two violations of California law. The criminal complaint alleged, first, that he violated California Vehicle Code § 21750 (Supp. 1971) by improper passing; and second, that he was involved in an accident causing property damage and failed to report his name, address, and the circumstances of the accident to the other driver involved and the California Highway Patrol. California Vehicle Code § 20002, as amended by Cal.Laws 1965, c. 872. [Footnote 4/1] After a demurrer to the complaint was rejected, respondent sought a writ of prohibition to restrain prosecution of the second charge of the complaint.
link in the chain in a prosecution under Vehicle Code Section 21750 than that which establishes that the defendant was driving the vehicle involved."
App. 42. Since on these facts, it was "obvious," App. 44, that respondent faced a substantial hazard of self-incrimination if he reported that he was the driver of one of the automobiles involved in the accident, the Superior Court issued the writ to restrain prosecution for failure to make the report.
"To compel [respondent] to comply with [§ 20002], and thus to admit a fact essential to his conviction of a violation of section 21750, is to compel him to give a testimonial declaration that falls directly within the scope of the constitutional privilege."
likelihood that information disclosed by him in compliance with the statute could, by itself or in conjunction with other evidence, be used to secure his conviction of a criminal offense."
"driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident [who] is confronted with [the] statutory requirement . . . [and who] reasonably believes that compliance with the statute will result in self-incrimination."
"had reasonable ground to apprehend that, if he stopped to identify himself as required . . . , he would confront a substantial hazard of self-incrimination."
the courts. Accordingly, it affirmed the Superior Court. Id. at 1057-1058, 458 P.2d at 477-478. The two dissenting justices took issue with the majority only over the question whether respondent's punishment would be unfair. Id. at 1059-1060, 458 P.2d at 479.
"whether the constitutional privilege against compulsory self-incrimination is infringed by California's so-called 'hit and run' statute, [Footnote 4/4] which requires the driver of a motor vehicle involved in an accident to stop at the scene and give his name and address."
Court, 331 U. S. 549, 331 U. S. 584 (1947), the plurality seeks a broad general formula to resolve the tensions "between the State's demand for disclosures and . . . the right against self-incrimination." Ante at 402 U. S. 427. But only rivers of confusion can flow from a lake of generalities. Cf. the opinion of my Brother BLACK, ante at 402 U. S. 460-461.
"in each case, the crime-directed character of the registration requirement was . . . important only insofar as it supported the claims of the specific petitioners that they faced 'substantial hazards of self-incrimination' justifying invocation of the privilege."
various penalties prescribed by the wagering tax statutes."
390 U.S. at 390 U. S. 61. The point is that, in both Albertson and Marchetti, petitioners arrived in this Court accompanied by a record showing only that they had failed to register, respectively, as Communists and as a gambler, and that, in fact, they were such. Since neither of these facts was necessarily criminal, we had to determine whether the petitioners faced "real and appreciable," or merely "imaginary and unsubstantial," [Footnote 4/5] hazards when they refused to register. That the petitioners belonged in each case to an inherently suspect group was relevant to that question, and that alone. By contrast, in the present case, we are dealing with a record which demonstrates, as found by all three courts below, that respondent was charged by California both with illegal passing which resulted in an accident and with failing to report himself as one of the drivers involved in that accident. It is hard to imagine a record demonstrating a more substantial hazard of self-incrimination than this. Yet the plurality somehow concludes that respondent did not face the "substantial risk of self-incrimination involved in Marchetti." [Footnote 4/6] Ante at 402 U. S. 431.
called upon to decide what information could be withheld; certainly I would expect this Court to hesitate before affirming the conviction of a fugitive from justice for filing a tax return which omitted his address. However that may be, I am frankly unable to understand just what the plurality thinks that Sullivan stands for. Rather than pursue the matter further, I simply note below those portions of the Sullivan opinion quoted, paraphrased, or omitted in the plurality opinion. Portions there quoted are in roman type; portions there paraphrased are enclosed in brackets; portions there omitted are in italics.
"As the defendant's income was taxed, the statute, of course, required a return. . . . In the decision that this was contrary to the Constitution, we are of opinion that the protection of the Fifth Amendment was pressed too far. If the form of return provided called for answers that the defendant was privileged from making he could have raised the objection in the return, but could not on that account refuse to make any return at all. We are not called on to decide what, if anything, he might have withheld. . . . [It would be] an extreme, if not an extravagant, application of the Fifth Amendment [to say that it authorized a man to refuse to state the amount of his income because it had been made in crime.] But, if the defendant desired to test that or any other point, he should have tested it in the return, so that it could be passed upon."
United States v. Sullivan, 274 U.S. at 274 U. S. 263-264. Cf. the plurality opinion, ante at 402 U. S. 428-429, 402 U. S. 433-434.
I find even less persuasive the plurality's alternative suggestion, see ante at 402 U. S. 431-434, that the California statute involved here does not require individuals to "provide the State with 'evidence of a testimonial or communicative nature' within the meaning of the Constitution."
"[c]ompliance with § 20002(a)(1) requires two things: first, a driver involved in an accident is required to stop at the scene; second, he is required to give his name and address;"
it later suggests that, conceivably, "it [could] be . . . inferred" that such a driver "was indeed the operator of an accident-involved' vehicle." Ante at 402 U. S. 431, 402 U. S. 433. But, the plurality opinion continues, United States v. Wade, 388 U. S. 218, 388 U. S. 221-223 (1967), rejects the notion that "such inferences are communicative or testimonial." Ante at 402 U. S. 433. Putting aside the plurality's misreading of Wade, adequately dealt with by my Brother HARLAN, ante at 402 U. S. 435-436, the initial problem with the plurality opinion is that it adopts a construction of the California statute that was explicitly rejected by the California Supreme Court. That court specifically stated that the statute involved here "requires drivers involved in accidents to identify themselves as involved drivers." 71 Cal.2d at 1045, 458 P.2d at 470 (emphasis added in part). We have no license to overrule the California Supreme Court on a question of the construction of a California statute. Even if we did, however, I would still not be persuaded by the plurality's reasoning that, since "[d]isclosure of name and address is an essentially neutral act," ante at 402 U. S. 432, any inferences which may be drawn from that disclosure are not "communicative or testimonial" in nature. Ante at 402 U. S. 432, 402 U. S. 433. Apparently the plurality believes that a statute requiring all robbers to stop and leave their names and addresses with their victims would not involve the compulsion of "communicative or testimonial" evidence.
approach. He quite candidly admits that our prior cases compel the conclusion that respondent was entitled to rely on the privilege against self-incrimination as a defense to prosecution for failure to stop and report his involvement in an accident. Ante at 402 U. S. 438-439. He would simply limit those cases because he believes that technological progress has made the privilege against self-incrimination a "threat" to "realistic" government that we can no longer afford. [Footnote 4/9] To the extent that this argument calls for refutation, it is adequately disposed of in Mr. Justice Brandeis' dissenting opinion in Olmstead v. United States, 277 U. S. 438, 277 U. S. 472-477, 479 (1928). Our society is not endangered by the Fifth Amendment.
"The dangers of which we must really beware are . . . that we shall fall prey to the idea that, in order to preserve our free society, some of the liberties of the individual must be curtailed, at least temporarily. How wrong that kind of a program would be is surely evident from the mere statement of the proposition."
J. Harlan, Live and Let Live, in The Evolution of a Judicial Philosophy 285, 288 (D. Shapiro ed.1969).
"will neither frustrate any apparent significant legislative purpose nor unduly hamper criminal prosecutions of drivers involved in accidents resulting in damage to the property of others."
interest. It is quite another to flout the conclusion of the State's Supreme Court -- and, so far as appears, of the state legislature as well -- that imposition of a particular requirement is not at all inconsistent with the asserted state interests.
statute is involved is simply to indulge in the sort of "artificial, if not disingenuous judgments" against which my Brother HARLAN's opinion otherwise warns. Ante at 402 U. S. 442.
Finally, even if everything else in my Brother HARLAN' opinion be accepted, I cannot understand his concurrence in the judgment. For the California Supreme Court agreed with his conclusion that the privilege against self-incrimination does not provide a defense to an individual who fails to comply with the statutory reporting requirement. 71 Cal.2d at 1057, 458 P.2d at 477. But it nevertheless concluded that respondent should not be punished, because it would be "unfair" to do so. 71 Cal.2d at 1058, 458 P.2d at 478. Although my Brother HARLAN concludes that the Fifth Amendment does not excuse compliance with the California reporting requirements for reasons quite different from those relied upon by the California Supreme Court, the point is that both have reached the same conclusion. Of course, we have already held that due process is denied an individual if he is led to believe that the privilege against self-incrimination applies when he refuses to answer questions, and subsequently prosecuted on the grounds that it does not. Raley v. Ohio, 360 U. S. 423 (1959). One would assume that, in such circumstances, my Brother HARLAN would, although for very different reasons, agree that the judgment of the California Supreme Court should be affirmed.
constrained to add that I cannot agree with the California Supreme Court's conclusion that the requirement may be enforced if the State is merely precluded from using the compelled evidence and its fruits in a criminal prosecution. When, as in the present case, the statute requires an individual to admit that he has engaged in conduct likely to be the subject of criminal punishment under the California traffic laws, the requirement, in my view, may be enforced only if those reporting their involvement in an accident pursuant to the statutory command are immune from prosecution under state law for traffic offenses arising out of the conduct involved in the accident. See Piccirillo v. New York, 400 U. S. 548, 400 U. S. 550-551 (1971) (Douglas, J., dissenting); id. at 400 U. S. 561-573 (BRENNAN, J., dissenting); Mackey v. United States, 401 U. S. 667, 401 U. S. 702 (1971) (BRENNAN, J., concurring in judgment).
In 1967, subsequent to the accident involved in this case, the statute was amended in ways not material here. See Cal.Vehicle Code § 20002 (Supp. 1971).
Cf. Raley v. Ohio, 360 U. S. 423 (1959).
The California court noted that use restrictions were imposed by the California Legislature itself with regard to required accident reports where the accident resulted in personal injury or death, see Cal. Vehicle Code § 20012 (Supp. 1971). 71 Cal.2d at 1055, 458 P.2d at 476.
To avoid confusion, it should be remembered that the California Supreme Court, in its opinion, refers to a number of state "hit-and-run" statutes, including but not limited to the single statute involved in this case. Byers v. Justice Court, 71 Cal.2d at 1044-1045, 458 P.2d at 469-470.
Brown v. Walker, 161 U. S. 591, 161 U. S. 599 (1896), quoting Queen v. Boyes, 1 B. & S. 311, 330, 121 Eng.Rep. 730, 738 (1861).
Even accepting the proposition that the Fifth Amendment applies only to statutory inquiries directed at persons who can demonstrate membership in a group inherently suspect of criminal activity, I find the plurality opinion confusing in its notion of how one determines the group at which a given statute is directed. Of course, in one sense, every statute not naming the persons or organizations to whom it applies is directed at the public at large. The paradigm is a statute requiring "any person who does [or is a member of] X" to answer certain questions. The activity involved in Sullivan was the earning of income, in Marchetti was gambling, and in Albertson was belonging to the Communist Party. The plurality appears to agree that those statutes were, respectively, directed at income earners (very nearly the public at large), gamblers, and Communists. The statute before us directs any person who is the driver of an automobile involved in an accident causing property damage to answer certain questions. I would think, then, that it would be "directed at" drivers involved in accidents causing property damage. Yet the plurality states that it is "directed at . . . all persons who drive automobiles in California." Apparently four members of this Court are willing to assume that all California drivers at some time are involved in an automobile accident causing property damage. I would hesitate before making such an assertion.
Technological progress creates an ever-expanding need for governmental information about individuals. If the individual's ability in any particular case to perceive a genuine risk of self-incrimination is to be a sufficient condition for imposition of use restrictions on the government in all self-reporting contexts, then the privilege threatens the capacity of the government to respond to societal needs with a realistic mixture of criminal sanctions and other regulatory devices. To the extent that our Marchetti-Grosso line of cases appears to suggest that the presence of perceivable risks of incrimination, in and of itself, justifies imposition of a use restriction on the information gained by the Government through compelled self-reporting, I think that line of cases should be explicitly limited by this Court.
Ante at 402 U. S. 452-453.
"concluded that interference with prosecutorial efforts in accident cases was not so important that it rendered the use restriction less palatable to the State than recognition of an outright privilege not to disclose."
Ante at 402 U. S. 447.
It could be argued that the use restriction created by the California Legislature is of lesser consequence -- and therefore less burdensome -- than that which was imposed by the California Supreme Court in this case. If so, however, under the premises of my Brother HARLAN's opinion, the appropriate response on our part would be not to hold that the privilege against self-incrimination could not be asserted, but, at most, to diminish the scope of the use restriction to that considered by the legislature to be consistent with the state interests asserted. There is no reason to protect those interests more than the legislature itself deems necessary.
Although the case was tried and decided prior to our decisions in Marchetti v. United States, 390 U. S. 39 (1968), and Grosso v. United States, 390 U. S. 62 (1968), the principles of those cases must be applied here. United States v. United States Coin & Currency, 401 U. S. 715 (1971).

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