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 …