Cite as: 536 U. S. 24 (2002)
Syllabus
ant to mitigate his responsibility and avoid the death penalty to be used against him as evidence of his guilt. The hard choices faced by the defendants in, e. g., Baxter v. Palmigiano, supra, at 313; Ohio Adult Parole Authority v. Woodard, 523 U. S. 272, 287-288; and Minnesota v. Murphy, 465 U. S. 420, 422, further illustrate that the consequences respondent faced did not amount to unconstitutional compulsion. Respondent's attempt to distinguish the latter cases on dual grounds—that (1) the penalty here followed automatically from his decision to remain silent, and (2) his participation in the SATP was involuntary—is unavailing. Neither distinction would justify departing from this Court's precedents. Pp. 41-45.
(e) Were respondent's position to prevail, there would be serious doubt about the constitutionality of the federal sex offender treatment program, which is comparable to the Kansas program. Respondent is mistaken as well to concentrate on a so-called reward/penalty distinction and an illusory baseline against which a change in prison conditions must be measured. Finally, respondent's analysis would call into question the constitutionality of an accepted feature of federal criminal law, the downward adjustment of a sentence for acceptance of criminal responsibility. Pp. 45-47.
Justice O'Connor acknowledged that the Court is divided on the appropriate standard for evaluating compulsion for purposes of the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination in a prison setting, but concluded that she need not resolve this dilemma because this case indisputably involves burdens rather than benefits, and because the penalties assessed against respondent as a result of his failure to participate in the Sexual Abuse Treatment Program (SATP) are not compulsive on any reasonable test. The Fifth Amendment's text does not prohibit all penalties levied in response to a person's refusal to incriminate himself or herself—it prohibits only the compulsion of such testimony. The Court's so-called "penalty cases" establish that the potential loss of one's livelihood through, e. g., the loss of employment, Uniformed Sanitation Men Assn., Inc. v. Commissioner of Sanitation of City of New York, 392 U. S. 280, and the loss of the right to participate in political associations and to hold public office, Lefkowitz v. Cunningham, 431 U. S. 801, are capable of coercing incriminating testimony. Such penalties, however, are far more significant that those facing respondent: a reduction in incentive level and a corresponding transfer from medium to maximum security. In practical terms, these changes involve restrictions on respondent's prison privileges and living conditions that seem minor. Because the prison is responsible for caring for respondent's basic needs, his ability to support himself is not implicated
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