A Cry in the Night - The Murder of Kitty Genovese

This is the sad story of Kitty Genovese who was brutally murdered as several witnessess looked on. When this terrible crime received national attention, Kitty became the poster child and a symbol of awareness of the bystander effect.

Along a serene, tree-lined street in the Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York City, Catherine Genovese began the last walk of her life in the early morning hours of March 13, 1964. She had just left work, and it was 3:15 a.m. when she parked her red Fiat in the Long Island Railroad parking lot 20 feet from her apartment door at 82-70 Austin Street. As she locked her car door, she took notice of a figure in the darkness walking quickly toward her. She became immediately concerned as soon as the stranger began to follow her.

"Oh my God! He stabbed me!" she screamed. "Please help me! Please help me!" Some apartment lights went on in nearby buildings. Irene Frost at 82-68 Austin Street heard Catherine's screams plainly. "There was another shriek," she later testified in court, "and she was lying down crying out." Up on the seventh floor of the same building, Robert Mozer slid open his window and observed the struggle below. "Hey, let that girl alone!" he yelled down into the street. The attacker heard Mozer and immediately walked away. Within five minutes, the assailant returned. He stabbed her again, sexual assualted her and then killed her.

Marjorie and Samuel Koshkin witnessed the attack from their window. "I saw a man hurry to a car under my window," he said later. "He left and came back five minutes later and was looking around the area." Mr. Koshkin wanted to call the police, but Mrs. Koshkin thought otherwise. "I didn't let him," she later said to the press. "I told him there must have been 30 calls already." The man, who had selected his victim purely at random, ran to his car still parked where he left it. The entire event lasted at least 32 minutes.

By mid-April, the Kitty Genovese story had taken hold and the nation began a lengthy period of analysis and self-deprecation. How could civilized people turn away from another human being in such obvious dire need of help? As the details of the killing emerged, it became plain that if any one of the 38 witnesses had simply called the police at the first sign of trouble, the victim could have survived. Prompt medical treatment could have saved the life of Catherine Genovese.

People wanted answers as to how this phenomenon could have happened. Kitty's story brought forth the first research and the hypothesis of the bystander effect and diffusion of responsibilty as an explanation.

Example of Bystander Effect - Woman Dying on NY Hospital Floor

In this video you will see a woman falling over in her chair while waiting in an emergency room for care, she lay dying on the floor for over an hour while other patients and security officers looked on and did nothing to help her.

Example of Bystander Effect - Elderly Man Paralyzed in Hit and Run

In this surveillence video you see a 78 year old man being hit by a car and laying paralyzed in the middle of the street as bystanders watch on and no one offers help.