The exclusionary rule is a legal principle in the United States, under the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which holds that evidence collected or analyzed in violation of the defendant's constitutional rights is sometimes inadmissible in a criminal trial. This may be considered an example of a prophylactic rule formulated by the judiciary in order to protect a constitutional right. However, in some circumstances at least, the exclusionary rule may also be considered to follow directly from the constitutional language, such as the Fifth Amendment's command that no person "shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself" and that no person "shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due process of law."