The Kitty Genovese Murder

If you saw someone being murdered, would you take action? Would you call the police or try to get involved?

These are the questions that the Kitty Genovese case has brought to the minds of anyone that hears about it. The story of this case is a rollercoaster - it involves power relations, media sensationalism, and the establishment of the 911 system. But it’s most known for its connection toThe Bystander Effect.

Sometimes known as the Genovese Syndrome, the Bystander Effect has forced psychologists and people to take a hard look at how and when people make decisions about getting involved in conflict. But before we dive into the Bystander Effect, it’s important to understand what happened in the Kitty Genovese case.

Who Was Kitty Genovese?How Did Kitty Genovese Die?The New York Times StoryUncovering The TruthKitty Genovese and LGBTQ ErasureThe Impact of The Kitty Genovese CaseRelated posts:

Who Was Kitty Genovese?

How Did Kitty Genovese Die?

The New York Times Story

Uncovering The Truth

Kitty Genovese and LGBTQ Erasure

The Impact of The Kitty Genovese Case

Related posts:

Kitty Genovese was a woman who death in New York City led to the development of the Bystander Effect in psychology. Her murder was unique in that, despite it occurring in a cramped neighborhood in Queens, no one felt compelled to call the police and report the attack.

Moseley quickly fled the scene, and Kitty ran toward her apartment building. Moseley came back after a few minutes.

He found Kitty lying in front of a door to the back of her apartment building. He stabbed her multiple times, stole some money, and ran away again. In total, she was stabbed over a dozen times. The entire attack took place over 30 minutes, during which time multiple calls to the police. At 4:15 a.m, Kitty died as she was being taken to the hospital.

In the few days after the murder, Genovese’s death did not receive much attention. It took a week for the police to find the murderer - they originally named Kitty’s girlfriend as a suspect. So why has this case lived on as one of the most famous murders in America, 60+ years after it happened?

Word got around to the staff at the New York Times about Kitty’s murder. But the actual murder wasn’t what interested editor Abe Rosenthal - it was the witnesses to the murder. Police had interviewed 38 people in their investigations. Five of them gave testimony at Moseley’s trial.

Two weeks after Kitty’s murder, the New York Times published anarticletitled“37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police.”

That same year, editor Abe Rosenthal published a book called “38 Witnesses.” In the book, he called on us all to question how we act in the face of crime, and how the urban environment may impact our decisions. These questions still haunt many psychologists and academics today. Entire courses have been created based on this case. The search for answers has shaped the way many people look at decision-making and the way they go about their life.

But let’s go back for a minute to look at the New York Times article.

The story’s first paragraph reads,

“For more than half an hour 38 respectable, law‐abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens.” Later, it mentions “Not one person telephoned ‐ the police during the assault; one witness called after the woman was dead.”

Wait,you might be saying,didn’t you say people called the police?

The New York Times has gone back to review and correct information that was incorrectly shared in their original article.

If you want to learn more about uncovering the facts on this case, I recommend that you watch The Witness. The documentary follows Kitty’s brother, Bill Genovese, as he tracks down information on Kitty’s life and death. He talks to reporters involved in the case, witnesses who were shocked to learn that they were one of “the 38,” and more. It was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award in 2018.

In the documentary, Kitty’s brother discovers that Kitty Genovese was a lesbian as he goes through the reports of her death. Reddit users on the Sapphoandherfriend subreddit discussed how this impacted her murderandeven the legitimacy of the Bystander Effect:

“For those who don’t know, the story that was popularized is that there were 38 people who witnessed her murder, but nobody called the police because they didn’t care. Her family then presumably mourned her, but it is usually left that the people who lived in her neighborhood didn’t care, even her roommate. At best, you get a bit of debunking that there weren’t actually 38 perfect witnesses, and somebody did call the police early on (though they ignored it because it seemed like a domestic dispute), but that there was a random guy who heard her, came out of his apartment, saw that she was being attacked, and then went back in and did nothing because he didn’t care.

But that guy wasn’t random. And he didn’t do nothing. But he also didn’t call the police. But that wasn’t because he didn’t care. He was a friend of Kitty’s, and he called a friend of his to try and figure out what to do. Why didn’t he call the cops instead? Well, first, nobody trusted the cops in the area, but second, because he was gay, and the cops would have been an even bigger issue, and third, because Kitty was a lesbian, which would have also made the cops even worse of an issue. The cops were finally called after he was able to get a hold of Kitty’s neighbor, a nice straight lady who also rushed over and held her as she died.”

You can read the whole conversationhere.

The case is also one of the reasons that the 911 system was put in place. Before Kitty’s death, you could only call the operator and asked to be connected to the local police station, or call the station’s number. Three years later, federal agencies put in a plan to create 911 as we know it today. Thefirst 911 callwas made in 1968.

There are a lot of stories within this one case. There is the story of witnesses whodidfail to call the police. (Witnesses from the documentary claim that a mistrust of authority, or the hesitance to get involved in a supposed domestic violence case, may have offered an explanation.) There is the story of a falsely reported article that went on to be sensationalized in the media. And there is the story of how we as peoplereactto the idea of the Bystander Effect and the Diffusion of Responsibility.

Related posts:The Bystander Effect (Definition + Examples)The Good Samaritan Effect (Definition + Examples)Ed Gein (Serial Killer Biography)Samuel Little (Serial Killer Biography)The Invisible Gorilla (Inattentional Blindness)

Reference this article:Practical Psychology. (2019, December).The Kitty Genovese Murder.Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/kitty-genovese-murder/.Practical Psychology. (2019, December). The Kitty Genovese Murder. Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/kitty-genovese-murder/.Copy

Reference this article:

Practical Psychology. (2019, December).The Kitty Genovese Murder.Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/kitty-genovese-murder/.Practical Psychology. (2019, December). The Kitty Genovese Murder. Retrieved from https://practicalpie.com/kitty-genovese-murder/.Copy

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