2025/10/30 by Hayley M. D. Cleary, Lucy A. Guarnera · 1 citation
Psychology · Social Sciences · Neuroscience · #Deception detection and forensic psychology #Torture, Ethics, and Law #Memory Processes and Influences
paper · doi:10.1037/lhb0000631
OBJECTIVE: Police custody is a critical legal determination because it triggers constitutionally mandated Miranda advisements and, in many states, electronic recording requirements. However, what constitutes "custody" is both legally and empirically nebulous, and few empirical studies have examined custody perceptions. HYPOTHESES: We hypothesized that participants' custody perceptions would vary across time and interrogation technique within our virtual interrogation. We also predicted that an array of individual characteristics (e.g., Black racial identity, educational problems, trauma symptoms, stereotype threat) would be associated with custody perceptions. METHOD: This study exposed 168 participants (ages 18-25) to a realistic police interrogation using virtual reality technology. Virtual reality participants perceived themselves as seated in an actual interrogation room next to a young suspect interrogated about a homicide. The scripted and filmed interrogation systematically varied three different interrogation techniques (rapport building, maximization, minimization). RESULTS: = .77), with an intraclass correlation coefficient of .85. CONCLUSIONS: Most people do not feel free to leave an interrogation room, even before confrontational interrogation techniques begin. This study informed the "reasonable person" standard by showing that even psychologically healthy young adults typically perceive they are in police custody, even under minimally restrictive circumstances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).