Garrity v. New Jersey

Garrity v. New Jersey
Argued November 10, 1966
Decided January 16, 1967
Full case nameEdward J. Garrity et al. v. State of New Jersey
Citations385 U.S. 493 (more)
87 S. Ct. 616; 17 L. Ed. 2d 562
Case history
PriorState v. Naglee, 44 N.J. 209, 207 A.2d 689 (1965); State v. Holroyd, 44 N.J. 259, 208 A.2d 146 (1965).
Holding
Where police officers being investigated were given choice either to incriminate themselves or to forfeit their jobs under New Jersey statute on ground of self-incrimination, and officers chose to make confessions, confessions were not voluntary but were coerced, and Fourteenth Amendment prohibited their use in subsequent criminal prosecution in state court.
Court membership
Chief Justice
Earl Warren
Associate Justices
Hugo Black · William O. Douglas
Tom C. Clark · John M. Harlan II
William J. Brennan Jr. · Potter Stewart
Byron White · Abe Fortas
Case opinions
MajorityDouglas, joined by Warren, Black, Brennan, Fortas
DissentHarlan, joined by Clark, Stewart
DissentWhite
Laws applied
U.S. Const. amends. V., XIV

Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967), was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that law enforcement officers and other public employees have the right to be free from compulsory self-incrimination. It gave birth to the Garrity warning, which is administered by investigators to suspects in internal and administrative investigations in a similar manner as the Miranda warning is administered to suspects in criminal investigations.