Race, sex, and emotion affect trust of auditory witness testimony

Racial and gender stereotypes influence courtroom decisions such as verdict and sentencing, which typically are harmful to Black defendants. How much a witness is trusted swings the balance in courtroom proceedings, and racial and gender biases are also present in this domain. Our voices convey information about gender, trust, emotion, and stereotypes about race. Trust is predicted by by acoustic properties of the voice such as pitch, speech rate, breathiness, and noisiness. To examine potential biases towards witness credibility in light of stereotypes of how Black and white men and women might speak, participants rated whether they trusted audio recordings differing in emotion, sex, and race, speaking “That is exactly what happened”. We found that trust ratings varied significantly between sex and race when voices sounded angry, fearful, and neutral, but not when voices sounded disgusted or sad. Acoustic properties of the voice had different influences on trust ratings when Black and white men and women spoke with different emotions. Uncovering such biases that may occur in a courtroom setting is crucial to ensure all individuals receive equitable treatment in the criminal justice system.