Speakers of some accents risk being stereotyped as more likely to have committed a crime, new research suggests.
The study led by the University of Cambridge, in collaboration with Nottingham Trent University, sought to understand people’s perceptions about 10 different accents across the UK.
The researchers asked 180 participants both male and female from across the UK to listen to recordings of 10 male voices from Belfast, Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol, Cardiff, Glasgow, Liverpool, London, Newcastle and Standard Southern British English (SSBE), also referred to as received pronunciation, or RP.
Participants were asked to rate the voices on 10 social traits: educated, intelligent, rich, working class, friendly, honest, kind, trustworthy, aggressive and confident – as well as on 10 morally good, bad and ambiguous behaviours.
Those behaviours included how likely they were to: return a lost wallet to its owner, stand up for someone who is being harassed, cheat on a romantic partner, report a relative to the police for a minor offence, drive dangerously, physically assault someone, shoplift, touch someone sexually without consent and vandalise a shopfront.
‘Some accents sound guiltier than others’
The findings, which were peer-reviewed and published in the Frontiers in Communication journal, concluded people with Liverpool and Bradford accents were perceived as the most likely to behave in criminal ways, while those with an RP accent were considered the least likely.
People with London and Liverpool accents were rated most likely to touch someone sexually without consent, followed very closely by those with the RP accent.
People with an RP accent were considered to be more likely to commit a sexual assault than any of the other offences tested.
“Our findings bring into sharp focus the disadvantage that speakers of some accents may still face in the criminal justice system,” said lead author, Alice Paver, from the University of Cambridge’s Phonetics Laboratory and Jesus College.
“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.
“As things stand, listeners think some accents sound guiltier than others and we should all be concerned about that.”
Non-English accents, in particular Belfast’s and Glasgow’s, were rated significantly less likely to behave in criminal ways than almost all other accents, and were thought to be the least likely to commit sexual offences.
Perceptions of some accents shifting
The study also highlighted some potential shifts in perception with some accents.
While previous studies found that the Newcastle accent rates highly for traits such as friendliness, this study recorded less positive ratings for kindness, honesty, friendliness and trustworthiness.
The Birmingham accent, which has rated poorly in previous research across these measures, performed better than Bradford, Bristol, Liverpool, London and Newcastle in this study.
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Ms Paver added: “The strongest connection we found was between people’s perceptions of class or status, negative traits such as aggression, and how they think someone is going to behave, particularly when it comes to crime.
“This is the first time that a concrete link between traits and behaviours has been made in the context of accent judgements.”
The researchers say they hope their work will raise more awareness, particularly among jurors, about prejudices they may have going into a case.
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Ms Paver said: “Jurors are not currently made aware of or warned against letting voice or accent-based prejudice sway their decisions.”
Full list of findings
This is the full list of accents in order of perception from most to least likely to commit a sex offence:
1. London
2. Liverpool
3. RP
4. Newcastle
5. Bradford
6. Cardiff
7. Birmingham
8. Bristol
9. Belfast
10. Glasgow
Here are the accents in order of perception from most to least likely to take part in other criminal behaviour:
1. Liverpool
2. Bradford
3. Newcastle
4. London
5. Cardiff
6. Birmingham
7. Bristol
8. Glasgow
9. Belfast
10. RP
