In an incredible incident that will celebrate its 50^th anniversary this year, a woman named Kitty Genovese, 28 years-old, was murdered in a section of New York City called Kew Gardens, at the time considered a quiet and well-kept neighborhood. Horrific as the murder itself was, it was the reaction of her neighbors, reportedly as many as 38 witnesses, that made this a notorious example of a private citizenry’s reluctance to get involved in reporting crime and cooperating with law enforcement. Almost unbelievably, no one did anything to help Kitty Genovese on March 13, 1964 as she screamed for help while being stabbed by an attacker. Though many of these people were actually watching the crime being committed, none intervened, or even bothered to call the police.

     Although at first the story did not generate much attention, a New York Times story by A.M. Rosenthal outraged the nation and the world. The witnesses were described as having viewed from their windows for a half hour as the murderer, Winston Mosely, made three separate attempts and finally succeeded in stabbing Ms. Genovese to death… almost as if they were watching a play. One of the male witnesses, in a later interview, gave as his reason for doing nothing what is now the famous cliché “I didn’t want to get involved”.

      Even if there was some sensationalism or hyperbole present in the Times article, (and some later research cited in the article indicates this may have been the case)- the Kitty Genovese incident, and many other similar ones, gave credence to a psychological phenomenon known as the “bystander effect”. Simply stated, it is the theory that the more witnesses there are to a given crime, the less likely it is that any one or more individuals will get involved; everyone will wait on somebody else to take the initiative. In other words, Kitty Genovese’s chances of being helped might have been much better if only one or two witnesses had been present. The theory also incorporates another facet, the “social influence”, under which members in a group will monitor others’ behavior for a cue as how to act themselves. Since “nobody else” was doing anything to help Ms. Genovese, each individual witness justified their own inaction accordingly.

      Most present-day psychologists, while conceding that the bystander effect exists, feel that the neighbors in the Kitty Genovese incident were overly villainized. Rather than being cold hearted, they were scared and confused- a fairly normal human response to violence. Fear can certainly be a factor in the reluctance of citizens to report, and even more so intervene, when they see crime firsthand. From the perceived danger of being hurt themselves, being somehow implicated as an accessory, or perhaps a later act of revenge against them by the criminal- this is yet another complex social and psychological factor that challenges those in the professions of law enforcement and criminal justice.

Rasenberger, Jim. “Kitty, 40 Years Later”. New York Times.com.        February 8, 2004. Web.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/08/nyregion/kitty-40-years-later.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

“Bystander Apathy Experiment/Kitty Genovese Murder Explained”. Explorable.com. July 15, 2009. Web.

http://explorable.com/bystander-apathy-experiment