714
Breyer, J., dissenting
of thought. See Muniz, supra, at 595-596 (describing English Star Chamber "wherein suspects were forced to choose between revealing incriminating private thoughts and forsaking their oath by committing perjury"); United States v. Nobles, 422 U. S. 225, 233 (1975) ("The Fifth Amendment privilege . . . protects 'a private inner sanctum of individual feeling and thought and proscribes state intrusion to extract self-condemnation' " (quoting Couch v. United States, 409 U. S. 322, 327 (1973))). Indeed, some have argued that the Puritans championed the privilege because, had the 17th-century state questioned them about their beliefs, they would have had to answer truthfully and thus suffer condemnation. See L. Levy, Origins of the Fifth Amendment 134 (1968) ("If [a Puritan] took the oath and lied, he committed the unpardonable and cardinal sin of perjury which was simply not an option for a religious man"). This consideration may prove less important today domestically, for the First Amendment protects against the prosecution of thought crime. But that fact also provides no reason for denying protection where the prosecution is foreign.
The Court has said that the privilege reflects, too, "our fear that self-incriminating statements will be elicited by inhumane treatment and abuses." Murphy, 378 U. S., at 55. This concern with governmental "overreaching" would appear implicated as much when the foreseen prosecution is by another country as when it is by another domestic jurisdiction. Indeed, the analogy to Murphy's observation about "cooperative federalism," in which State and Federal Governments wage "a united front against many types of criminal activity," id., at 56, is a powerful one. That is because, in the 30 years since Murphy, the United States has dramatically increased its level of cooperation with foreign governments to combat crime. See generally E. Nadelman, Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization of U. S. Criminal Law Enforcement (1993); Bassiouni, Policy Considerations on Inter-State Cooperation in Criminal Matters, 4 Pace Y. B.
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