truthfully or falsely revealing their thoughts. We carefully noted in Gilbert v. California, 388 U. S. 263 (1967), for example, that a “mere handwriting exemplar, in contrast to the content of what is written, like the voice or body itself, is an identifying physical characteristic outside [the privilege's] protection.” Id., at 266–267 (emphasis added). Had the suspect been asked to provide a writing sample of his own composition, the content of the writing would have reflected his assertion of facts or beliefs and hence would have been testimonial; but in Gilbert "[n]o claim [was] made that the content of the exemplars was testimonial or communicative matter." Id., at 267.12 And in Doe, the suspect was asked merely to sign a consent form waiving a privacy interest in foreign bank records. Because the consent form spoke in the hypothetical and did not identify any particular banks, accounts, or private records, the form neither "communicate[d] any factual assertions, implicit or explicit, [n]or convey[ed] any information to the Government." 487 U. S., at 215. We concluded, therefore, that compelled execution of the consent directive did not "forc[e] [the suspect] to express the contents of his mind,” id., at 210, n. 9, but rather forced the suspect only to make a "nonfactual statement." Id., at 213, n. 11. In contrast, the sixth birthday question in this case required a testimonial response. When Officer Hosterman

12 See also United States v. Wade, 388 U. S. 218, 222-223 (1967) (“[T]o utter words purportedly uttered by the robber [and dictated to the suspect by the police] was not compulsion to utter statements of a 'testimonial' nature; [the suspect] was required to use his voice as an identifying physical characteristic, not to speak his guilt" because the words did not reflect any facts or beliefs asserted by the suspect); United States v. Dionisio, 410 U. S. 1, 7 (1973) (where suspects were asked to create voice exemplars by reading already-prepared transcripts, the "voice recordings were to be used solely to measure the physical properties of the witnesses' voices, not for the testimonial or communicative content of what was to be said" because the content did not reflect any facts or beliefs asserted by the suspects).

asked Muniz if he knew the date of his sixth birthday and Muniz, for whatever reason, could not remember or calculate that date, he was confronted with the trilemma. By hypothesis, the inherently coercive environment created by the custodial interrogation precluded the option of remaining silent, see n. 10, supra. Muniz was left with the choice of incriminating himself by admitting that he did not then know the date of his sixth birthday, or answering untruthfully by reporting a date that he did not then believe to be accurate (an incorrect guess would be incriminating as well as untruthful). The content of his truthful answer supported an inference that his mental faculties were impaired, because his assertion (he did not know the date of his sixth birthday) was different from the assertion (he knew the date was (correct date)) that the trier of fact might reasonably have expected a lucid person to provide. Hence, the incriminating inference of impaired mental faculties stemmed, not just from the fact that Muniz slurred his response, but also from a testimonial aspect of that response.

13 The Commonwealth's protest that it had no investigatory interest in the actual date of Muniz's sixth birthday, see Tr. of Oral Arg. 18, is inapposite. The critical point is that the Commonwealth had an investigatory interest in Muniz's assertion of belief that was communicated by his answer to the question. Putting it another way, the Commonwealth may not have cared about the correct answer, but it cared about Muniz's answer. The incriminating inference stems from the then-existing contents of Muniz's mind as evidenced by his assertion of his knowledge at that time.

This distinction is reflected in Estelle v. Smith, 451 U. S. 454 (1981), where we held that a defendant's answers to questions during a psychiatric examination were testimonial in nature. The psychiatrist asked a series of questions, some focusing on the defendant's account of the crime. After analyzing both the "statements [the defendant] made, and remarks he omitted," id., at 464, the psychiatrist made a prognosis as to the defendant's "future dangerousness" and testified to this effect at his capital sentencing hearing. The psychiatrist had no investigative interest in whether the defendant's account of the crime and other disclosures were either accurate or complete as a historical matter; rather, he relied on the remarks-both those made and omitted-to infer that the defendant would

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496 U. S.

The state court held that the sixth birthday question constituted an unwarned interrogation for purposes of the privilege against self-incrimination, 377 Pa. Super., at 390, 547 A. 2d, at 423, and that Muniz's answer was incriminating. Ibid. The Commonwealth does not question either conclusion. Therefore, because we conclude that Muniz's response to the sixth birthday question was testimonial, the response should have been suppressed.

C

The Commonwealth argues that the seven questions asked by Officer Hosterman just prior to the sixth birthday question-regarding Muniz's name, address, height, weight, eye color, date of birth, and current age-did not constitute custodial interrogation as we have defined the term in Miranda and subsequent cases. In Miranda, the Court referred to "interrogation" as actual "questioning initiated by law enforcement officers." 384 U. S., at 444. We have since clarified that definition, finding that the "goals of the Miranda safeguards could be effectuated if those safeguards extended not only to express questioning, but also to its functional equivalent.'" Arizona v. Mauro, 481 U. S. 520, 526 (1987). In Rhode Island v. Innis, 446 U. S. 291 (1980), the Court defined the phrase "functional equivalent" of express questioning to include "any words or actions on the part of the police (other than those normally attendant to arrest and custody)

likely pose a threat to society in the future because of his state of mind. We nevertheless explained that the "Fifth Amendment privilege. . . is directly involved here because the State used as evidence against [the defendant] the substance of his disclosures during the pretrial psychiatric examination." Id., at 464-465 (emphasis added). The psychiatrist may have presumed the defendant's remarks to be truthful for purposes of drawing his inferences as to the defendant's state of mind, see South Dakota v. Neville, 459 U. S. 553, 561-562, n. 12 (1983), but that is true in Muniz's case as well: The incriminating inference of mental confusion is based on the premise that Muniz was responding truthfully to Officer Hosterman's question when he stated that he did not then know the date of his sixth birthday.

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that the police should know are reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response from the suspect. The latter portion of this definition focuses primarily upon the perceptions of the suspect, rather than the intent of the police." Id., at 301 (footnotes omitted); see also Illinois v. Perkins, ante, at 296. However, "[a]ny knowledge the police may have had concerning the unusual susceptibility of a defendant to a particular form of persuasion might be an important factor in determining" what the police reasonably should have known. Innis, supra, at 302, n. 8. Thus, custodial interrogation for purposes of Miranda includes both express questioning and words or actions that, given the officer's knowledge of any special susceptibilities of the suspect, the officer knows or reasonably should know are likely to "have . . . the force of a question on the accused," Harryman v. Estelle, 616 F. 2d 870, 874 (CA5 1980), and therefore be reasonably likely to elicit an incriminating response.

We disagree with the Commonwealth's contention that Officer Hosterman's first seven questions regarding Muniz's name, address, height, weight, eye color, date of birth, and current age do not qualify as custodial interrogation as we defined the term in Innis, supra, merely because the questions were not intended to elicit information for investigatory purposes. As explained above, the Innis test focuses primarily upon "the perspective of the suspect." Perkins, ante, at 296. We agree with amicus United States, however, that Muniz's answers to these first seven questions are nonetheless admissible because the questions fall within a “routine booking question" exception which exempts from Miranda's coverage questions to secure the "biographical data necessary to complete booking or pretrial services."" Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 12, quoting United States v. Horton, 873 F. 2d 180, 181, n. 2 (CA8 1989). The state court found that the first seven questions were "requested for record-keeping purposes only," App. B16, and therefore the questions appear reasonably related to the police's adminis

F.2d

trative concerns.1 In this context, therefore, the first seven questions asked at the booking center fall outside the protections of Miranda and the answers thereto need not be suppressed.

IV

During the second phase of the videotaped proceedings, Officer Hosterman asked Muniz to perform the same three sobriety tests that he had earlier performed at roadside prior to his arrest: the "horizontal gaze nystagmus" test, the "walk and turn" test, and the "one leg stand" test. While Muniz was attempting to comprehend Officer Hosterman's instructions and then perform the requested sobriety tests, Muniz made several audible and incriminating statements.15 Muniz argued to the state court that both the videotaped performance of the physical tests themselves and the audiorecorded verbal statements were introduced in violation of Miranda. The court refused to suppress the videotaped evidence of Muniz's paltry performance on the physical sobriety tests, reasoning that "[r]equiring a driver to perform physical [sobriety] tests. . . does not violate the privilege against selfincrimination because the evidence procured is of a physical nature rather than testimonial."" 377 Pa. Super., at 387, 547 A. 2d, at 422 (quoting Commonwealth v. Benson, 280 Pa.

14 As amicus United States explains, "[r]ecognizing a 'booking exception' to Miranda does not mean, of course, that any question asked during the booking process falls within that exception. Without obtaining a waiver of the suspect's Miranda rights, the police may not ask questions, even during booking, that are designed to elicit incriminatory admissions." Brief for United States as Amicus Curiae 13. See, e. g., United States v. Avery, 717 F. 2d 1020, 1024-1025 (CA6 1983); United States v. MataAbundiz, 717 F. 2d 1277, 1280 (CA9 1983); United States v. Glen-Archila, 677 F. 2d 809, 816, n. 18 (CA11 1982).

15 Most of Muniz's utterances were not clearly discernible, though several of them suggested excuses as to why he could not perform the physical tests under these circumstances.