Cite as: 511 U. S. 318 (1994)
Per Curiam
Our decisions make clear that the initial determination of custody depends on the objective circumstances of the interrogation, not on the subjective views harbored by either the interrogating officers or the person being questioned. In Beckwith v. United States, 425 U. S. 341 (1976), for example, the defendant, without being advised of his Miranda rights, made incriminating statements to Government agents during an interview in a private home. He later asked that Miranda "be extended to cover interrogation in non-custodial circumstances after a police investigation has focused on the suspect." 425 U. S., at 345 (internal quotation marks omitted). We found his argument unpersuasive, explaining that it "was the compulsive aspect of custodial interrogation, and not the strength or content of the government's suspicions at the time the questioning was conducted, which led the Court to impose the Miranda requirements with regard to custodial questioning." Id., at 346-347 (internal quotation marks omitted). As a result, we concluded that the defendant was not entitled to Miranda warnings: "Although the 'focus' of an investigation may indeed have been on Beckwith at the time of the interview . . . , he hardly found himself in the custodial situation described by the Miranda Court as the basis for its holding." 425 U. S., at 347.
Berkemer v. McCarty, 468 U. S. 420 (1984), reaffirmed the conclusions reached in Beckwith. Berkemer concerned the roadside questioning of a motorist detained in a traffic stop. We decided that the motorist was not in custody for purposes of Miranda even though the traffic officer "apparently decided as soon as [the motorist] stepped out of his car that [the motorist] would be taken into custody and charged with a traffic offense." 468 U. S., at 442. The reason, we explained, was that the officer "never communicated his intention to" the motorist during the relevant questioning. Ibid. The lack of communication was crucial, for under Miranda "[a] policeman's unarticulated plan has no bearing on the question whether a suspect was 'in custody' at a particular
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