Attribution of guilt as a function of ethnic accent and type of crime

Abstract

The attribution of guilt to persons accused of a crime was investigated as a function of accent and type of crime. A 3 × 3 repeated measures design required three groups of subjects to rate three accents on their probability of having committed a particular crime. The accents were Received British Pronunciation (R.P.), Broad Australian and Asian. The subjects listened to a message in which the accused protested his innocence; guilt was evaluated on a scale from Innocent to Guilty. The three crimes were: (1) Embezzlement, (2) Damage to property, (3) Violence against a person. Results revealed no significant main effects but a highly significant interaction between accent and crime. Significant differences existed within and between R.P. and Broad Australian. No differences were found within the Asian accent as a function of type of crime, but differences were found between the Asian and European accents. More guilt was attributed to R.P. when the crime was theft; to the Australian accent in the crime of violence. The ratings of the Asian accent contributed the least variance to the results.

Notes

Ian Seggie is Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia.