The amendment also includes a right to due process and protects against being prosecuted twice for the same offense. It can be used in a number of circumstancesOver the course of U.S. history, the Fifth Amendment has expanded beyond federal criminal cases to the state court level, and to civil cases as well. In criminal cases, if someone on trial invokes the amendment and refuses to testify, the jurors must be told that they can't assume that silence equals guilt. In civil cases, drawing a negative inference from a refusal to testify can be allowed. In the 1950s, when Sen. Joe McCarthy held anticommunist hearings, some witnesses used the amendment when being questioned.