Informant-A person that gives information to law enforcement about the criminal activity of others.
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Hoffa v. United States, 385 U.S. 293 (1966)-
1. No rights under the Fourth Amendment were violated by the failure of government informer to disclose his role. When Hoffa made incriminating statements to or in the presence of the informer, his invitee, he relied, not on the security of the hotel room, but on his misplaced confidence that the informer would not reveal his wrongdoing.
2. Hoffa's conversations with the informer, being entirely voluntary, involved no Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory self-incrimination.
3. The use of a secret informer is not per se unconstitutional, and the use of the informer in this case did not violate due process requirements, his veracity having been fully subject to the safeguards of cross-examination and the trial court's instructions to the jury.
Arizona v. Fulminante, 499 U.S. 279 (1991)-An FBI informant in jail coerced a confession from a child murder suspect. The informant offered to protect the suspect from abuse from other inmates if the suspect confessed to him about the murder. The court excluded the confession.