What does the 5th amendment guarantee?

Answer 1

The most common and well known part is not allowing witnesses to incriminate themselves, known as e.g. "pleading the 5th".

The Fifth Amendment states:

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, with out due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

A careful reading of the Fifth Amendment informs the reader that no rights have been guaranteed but certain rights have been acknowledged. The right to due process of law is a right any person holds and the Fifth Amendment prohibits the Constitutional government set in place from disregarding those rights. This is not a guarantee and anyone paying attention to today's political landscape knows full well that the right to due process of law has been greatly subverted and contorted and people everyday are deprived of due process for any number of reasons. The Federal, State and even local governments brazenly and gleefully seize a persons property with out any due process of law everyday and too many people stand by helplessly watching the atrocities happen wondering what happened to their rights.

It is a popular misconception to think rights were guaranteed and provided by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Rights enumerated by a Constitution, a piece of legislation, a piece of paper can no more guarantee rights than a cardboard box could contain an elephant or a paper chain could leash a lion. It is not the piece of paper that makes people free: that piece of paper exists because people are free. That piece of paper will not stop governments from trampling over people's rights, only the people can stop that from happening.

Just as Sir Isaac newton's mathematical descriptions do not guarantee gravity, the Fifth Amendment does not guarantee any rights. Both gravity and rights exist just as other forces in this universe exist that can't be seen by the naked eye, nor through a microscope nor telescope nor computer model such as love or hate or fear. All absolutely exist yet none are observable as recognizable entities unto themselves. We know gravity exists we just cant see it or hear it or even smell it and yet we rely upon it. Our behavior abides by the law of gravity just as our behavior abides by the effects of love or hate or fear. The same is true for rights. We can not see these rights, we can not hear them nor taste nor smell them but we know they exist and if we are to flourish and prosper we must rely upon them.
The most common and well know is not allowing a witnesses to incriminate themselves E.G pleading the 5th

Answer 2

The 5th Amendment guarantees Indictments, Due Process, Self-Incrimination, Double Jeopardy, and rules for Eminent Domain.