Researchers asked participants to judge regional accents on traits like trustworthiness and honesty.
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The new study looks at biases in London on how guilty someone sounds based on their accents.
“Voices play a powerful role in the criminal justice system and police officers, lawyers and juries are all susceptible to judging voices based on stereotypes, whether they’re aware of it or not,” said Alice Paver, lead author of the study.
“As things stand, listeners think some accents sound guiltier than others and we should all be concerned about that.”
Researchers asked 180 participants to judge certain regional accents, based on traits such as intelligence, trustworthiness, and honesty.
Results of the study show people with ‘non-standard accents’ are ‘more likely to be associated with criminal behaviour’.
Liverpool and Bradford accents were perceived as most likely to be associated with criminal behaviour, while the standard Received Pronunciation (RP) accent was deemed the least likely.
Accents that participants thought were associated with sexual offences included Liverpool and Cockney, closely followed with the RP accent.
Other ‘morally bad’ traits such as ‘being unfaithful to a romantic partner’ and ‘lying on a CV’ were associated with the same accents perceived with sexual offences.
Arrests and jury decisions may be affected by these biases according to Paver – however, she explains this ‘doesn’t mean that they’re going to enact any kind of injustice necessarily’.
“It just means that the treatment of the prisoner might be slightly different… if you’re assuming that someone is guilty before you know that they are.”
The aim of the study is to advance the Improving Voice Identification Procedures, a draft set of guidelines targeted towards police officers and legal professionals to eliminate bias.
“Research that’s been done in the area and the fact that these kinds of prejudices and biases exist has started to become a little bit more in the public eye,” said Paver. “That is the first step towards making some kind of change.”
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HeadlineRegional accents in London perceived as belonging to criminals, new study shows
Short Headline'Working class' accents stereotyped as having committed a crime
StandfirstResearch from Cambridge and Nottingham Trent Universities shows how accents from Liverpool, Newcastle and Bradford might be met with injustice
The new study looks at biases in London on how guilty someone sounds based on their accents.
“Voices play a powerful role in the criminal justice system and police officers, lawyers and juries are all susceptible to judging voices based on stereotypes, whether they’re aware of it or not,” said Alice Paver, lead author of the study.
“As things stand, listeners think some accents sound guiltier than others and we should all be concerned about that.”
Researchers asked 180 participants to judge certain regional accents, based on traits such as intelligence, trustworthiness, and honesty.
Results of the study show people with ‘non-standard accents’ are ‘more likely to be associated with criminal behaviour’.
Liverpool and Bradford accents were perceived as most likely to be associated with criminal behaviour, while the standard Received Pronunciation (RP) accent was deemed the least likely.
Accents that participants thought were associated with sexual offences included Liverpool and Cockney, closely followed with the RP accent.
Other ‘morally bad’ traits such as ‘being unfaithful to a romantic partner’ and ‘lying on a CV’ were associated with the same accents perceived with sexual offences.
Arrests and jury decisions may be affected by these biases according to Paver – however, she explains this ‘doesn’t mean that they’re going to enact any kind of injustice necessarily’.
“It just means that the treatment of the prisoner might be slightly different… if you’re assuming that someone is guilty before you know that they are.”
The aim of the study is to advance the Improving Voice Identification Procedures, a draft set of guidelines targeted towards police officers and legal professionals to eliminate bias.
“Research that’s been done in the area and the fact that these kinds of prejudices and biases exist has started to become a little bit more in the public eye,” said Paver. “That is the first step towards making some kind of change.”
