Decision Making During a Police Encounter

• In Event: Wrongful Convictions 3

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the 5th prong of the Miranda warning, that is, the option for suspects to change their initial Miranda decision at any point during an interrogation. A community sample of hypothetically innocent and guilty mock-suspects (n=184) were asked to read a crime, make an initial Miranda decision, and then asked if they wanted to change their previous Miranda decision after a series of interrogation scenarios (guilt-confrontational, evidence-based, or understanding). At baseline, the majority (90%) of participants invoked their Miranda rights. However, as expected, this rate varied by guilt status; whereas 85.1% of the innocent sample invoked their rights, 97.6% of the guilty sample did so. Innocent participants were also significantly more likely to change their initial Miranda decisions than guilty participants. Moreover, the guilt-confrontational interrogation scenario induced changes to the Miranda decision more so than other scenarios. Future analyses will include how demographic (e.g., age, education, prior experiences) and Miranda comprehension influence changes to Miranda decision-making.

Authors

• Suraiya Shammi, George Mason University

• Allison D. Redlich, George Mason University

• Katelyn Stramaglia, George Mason University