The Death of Kitty Genovese

I had an awkward moment at school yesterday just after the bell rang to release my 4th Period Psychology class.  About half of my students had already left and the other half were still packing up their backpacks.  Suddenly, from the outside walkway, we heard a female's ear-splitting scream.  The students and I all looked at each other in confusion, but no one moved to the doorway.  Some students said "What was that?"  Still, no one moved to the doorway.  In all honesty, I assumed that it was a student just blowing off some steam during exam week.  One student even said "I wonder if someone is hurt out there," but no one moved to see if help was needed.  They continued to slowly pack up their books.  As the "responsible adult" in the room, I really should have gone outside to see what was going on, but I assumed that if something bad had truly happened, another teacher was dealing with it.  

Now, here comes the part when I felt pride in my students.  But it is not because they all realized that they needed to help this poor girl who had just screamed outside our door.  One of my students said "This situation is just like that psychology concept you taught us in the beginning of the year:  The bystander effect." The bystander effect states that a person in need is less likely to get help if there are a lot of people nearby.  All the other students were agreeing that this situation was just like the bystander effect and laughing over our lack of altruism.  I was so happy because I always love it when a student brings up a term that had not been discussed in a while.  It lets me know that they actually paid attention in class!  The students leisurely left the room joking around, and I doubt that any of them even looked to see if there was a female student in distress.  

The bystander effect is one of the most interesting concepts in psychology.  It has been proven that the more bystanders near a person who needs help, the less likely that they will give that help.  An injured person lying on the street is more likely to get help if one person is walking by rather than twenty people walking by.  While this may seem counter-intuitive, it does make psychological sense.  If you are the only person walking by, you know that it is your responsibilty to help.  If there are other people in the area, you shift that  responsibility to someone else.  Meanwhile, the others are shifting the responsility of helping back over to you.  The result: No on helps!  Psychologists who first studied the bystander effect were given their inspiration from the tragic story of Kitty Genovese.

At 3:20 AM on March 13, 1964, twenty-eight year old Kitty Genovese was walking back to her Queens apartment.  She had just gotten off work as a bar manager.  A man quickly walked up to Kitty and stabbed her. Kitty yelled out "Oh my God, he stabbed me!  Please help me!  Please help me!"  Many neighbors woke up and turned on their lights.  One man opened his window and said "Let that girl alone!"  The attacker fled the scene.  Some witnesses stated that they saw Kitty get up and stagger away so they went back to bed. 

Kitty did indeed try to move and get safely into the apartment building, but the entrance that she picked was locked.  She was trapped.  The attacker came back a few minutes later and stabbed her again.  He also raped her.  Kitty yelled out "I'm dying!"  Many neighbors were woken up again, yet still no one came to her rescue.  One witness called a friend and asked him for advice about what to do.  The friend told him to call the police, so he did.  That first call to the police took place at 3:50 AM...30 minutes AFTER the first attack.  The police and ambulance arrived within minutes, but Kitty soon died.

There is some debate on how many people witnessed the murder of Kitty Genovese.  The numbers range from 12 to 38 witnesses.  Some claimed that they thought that Kitty was in the midst of a lover's quarrel and they did not want to get involved.  Others thought that the loud noises were coming from people who had just left a bar.  Some witnesses, however, were undoubtedly aware that Kitty was being attacked.  Sadly, the bystander effect played a tragic part in her death.