For the source text click/tap here: Yevamot 25
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If a man reports to the beit din (the Jewish court) that a certain man has died, based on that testimony the beit din will act to allow the dead man’s wife to marry.
The Mishna on our daf teaches that if the man testified that a man had died, or if he said that he had killed a certain person, or that he was involved in the murder, the beit din will accept his testimony and permit the wife to marry. Nevertheless, the witness (or, perhaps, the murderer) will not be allowed to marry the widow himself.
Rabbi Yehuda disagrees in the case where the man testifies that he was the murderer and says that in such a case we cannot accept his testimony at all, since we do not allow a person to incriminate himself.
Therefore the woman cannot marry him or anyone else, since we must assume that her husband is still alive
By dint of the fifth amendment to the Constitution, US citizens are protected from being forced to give self-incriminating testimony; pleading the fifth is a common refrain in many a courtroom.
Jewish law goes one step further; it forbids the giving of self-incriminating evidence. Ein adam masshem aztmo rasha, a person cannot turn himself into an evil person.
Thus, one who admits to having killed someone cannot be convicted based on his own testimony.
While we cannot convict based on self-incriminating evidence, may we accept his testimony regarding others?
We explore the legal/halachic notion o self incrimination auth how it compares with American Law.