Autism and Police Interviewing: An Individual, Interpersonal, and Environmental Model of Vulnerability

Police interviews are complex social exchanges which take place in demanding socio-environmental contexts, yet they are crucial for obtaining evidence in an investigation. Autistic people are overrepresented in the criminal justice system (CJS) and report poor experiences at all stages. In this chapter, we provide an overview of autistic vulnerability in police custody, particularly focusing on potential impacts for investigative interviewing. While we focus primarily on the vulnerability of autistic police suspects, we also draw upon the more extensive literature of witness interviewing with autistic people. Through this, we frame autistic people's vulnerability during police interviews as intersecting individual, interpersonal, and environmental (IIE) levels through our IIE vulnerability model. We provide recommendations for practice and directions for future research.