Perceptions of School and Custodial Interrogations

Hinterleiter, Hannah

Perceptions of School and Custodial Interrogations

Persistent URL

https://hdl.handle.net/10456/57605

Author(s)

Hinterleiter, Hannah

Date Issued

April 3, 2024

Abstract

Juveniles are more susceptible to coercive interrogation techniques than adults. Most of the tactics, procedures, and methods used on adults in interrogations are implemented within schools in various ways. For example, schools use school resource officers and administrators in questioning of juveniles similar to police. Recent developments have found that these techniques lead to school criminalization and the school-to-prison pipeline. The main goal of this study was to examine general perceptions of custodial and school interrogations. This study also examined participants' perceptions regarding parents as an essential safeguard within interrogations. The current study recruited 91 students from Allegheny College a small liberal arts institution, who participated in an online survey. The current study had three hypotheses in total. The first hypothesis was participants are more familiar with custodial interrogations than school interrogations and will view them as more coercive. The second hypothesis was participants will view juvenile protections such as parent’s presence as necessary in the custodial condition and not the school condition. The final hypothesis is, that participants generally viewed juveniles as more guilty within a school versus a custodial setting. Overall, there were no significant findings throughout four analyses. The results showed that participants viewed the interrogations as coercive and severe. Participants also answered that the juvenile was mainly guilty and that safeguards are important. Future research could benefit from examining this topic further. The current study aimed to aid in the lack of knowledge of school interrogations and people's perceptions and judgments of these interrogations.

Major

Psychology

Honors

Psychology, 2024

First Reader(s)

Normile, Christopher