In relation to the obligation to provide business records and papers for a criminal prosecution, discuss fully the Fifth Amendment protection for such business records and papers in regard to corporations and also in regard to any custodian of such records

The Fifth Amendment protection for business records and papers is very limited. Corporations and other business entities enjoy no protection. Under the collective entity doctrine, the Supreme Court has held that the custodian of records for a collective entity, such as a corporation may not resist a subpoena for such records on the ground that the act of production will incriminate him or her. Nonetheless, the custodian cannot be compelled to testify as to the contents of the documents if that testimony would incriminate him or her personally. The business records compiled by a sole proprietor may have some protection if the government cannot authenticate the documents without the proprietor. In that case, the act of furnishing the documents may have the qualities of self-incriminating testimony. Although a person can be required to hand over specified documents he or she cannot be required to assist in identifying sources of information.