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Kitty Genovese and the Bystander Effect

Catherine “Kitty” Genovese, born in New York City in 1935, was a young bar manager at the time of her murder on March 13, 1964. While her murder in itself was a truly horrific event, having been stabbed more than 17 times, becoming the third victim of serial rapist and killer Winston Moseley, the fact that Kitty could have possibly been saved by the more than 38 witnesses to the murder makes this case even more disturbing. The bystander inaction, known at the time as the Kitty Genovese Syndrome, and later as the bystander effect, has now been accepted as an observable psychological syndrome.

In the early morning hours of March 13, Kitty Genovese was walking to her Queens apartment from the parking lot located only 20 feet from her front door, shortly after leaving work. The 5’1”, 105 pound woman was quickly overtaken by a stranger who emerged from the shadows. The man, serial rapist and killer Winston Moseley, jumped on top of Kitty and stabbed her several times with the knife he was carrying. After the initial attack, Genovese screamed, “Oh my God! He stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!”

At this point, several lights turned on in the nearby apartment complex and some of the tenants took notice of the attack occurring on the street below. Irene Frost, a resident of Kitty’s apartment building, later testified that she heard Kitty’s screams plainly. “There was another shriek and she was lying down crying.” Robert Mozer, a resident on the seventh floor of the same building, slid open his window and observed the struggle taking place. Upon observing Moseley attacking Genovese, Mozer yelled, “Hey, let that girl alone!” Moseley took notice of Mozer’s request and quickly ran away. Mozer closed his window, the lights in the apartment complex went out, and everyone went back to sleep.

The apartment tenant’s failed to take notice of Kitty, who was now lying on the ground, sobbing, bleeding badly from several open stab wounds. Despite her injuries and her neighbors’ indifference, Catherine managed to drag herself to the side of the building. Her attacker returned once more and stabbed the Genovese, who screamed, “I’m dying! I’m dying!” As happened the time before, several lights in the apartment building went on and windows opened to survey the scene below. Majorie and Samuel Koshkin witnessed the attack from their apartment building. Mr. Koshkin wanted to call police, but his wife advised against it, saying that “there must have been 30 calls already.” Another woman on the second floor even witnessed her assailant “bending down over [Kitty], beating her,” yet failed to call police.

The attacker fled once more at the sight of the lights from within the building. Kitty managed to pull herself to the back of the apartment and managed to open a door leading to the second floor, but collapsed in the lobby. Winston Moseley returned again, calmly following the trail of blood to the back of the building to the severely wounded Kitty lying on the floor. Moselely then sexually assaulted the semiconscious woman and violently stabbed her once again, finally ending her life.

Now why would 38 otherwise upstanding citizens simply ignore a murder taking place only yards away from them? Psychologists have explained the tragic case of Kitty Genovese and the inaction of the apartment tenants in terms of the bystander effect. Classically, the bystander effect is defined as a social phenomenon in which a person is less likely to offer help to a person in need when there are many people around. For some witnesses to the murder, as in the case of Mr. and Ms. Koshkin, this definition can be applied, as they perceived that others were helping and therefore it was unnecessary to help. Essentially, the witnesses felt no responsibility to act when they perceived there were so many other witnesses who could and most probably were helping.

While this classic definition of the phenomenon is the most plausible one to have contributed to the inaction of the witnesses, some social psychologists point to popular culture as a major contributing factor in the bystander inaction. Psychiatrist Ralph Banay explained that television was at least partly to blame, as the witnesses became confused and paralyzed by the violence occurring outside their window. “They were fascinated by the drama, the action, and yet not entirely sure what was taking place was actually happening.” This hypothesis is consistent with some statements given by witnesses, as they explained that they imagined it was an argument taking place between two lovers, not an actual murder.

Other psychologists explained that the complacency of the bystanders as a product of the urban environment. Leading psychologist Stanley Milgram corroborated this theory, explaining that “[the Genovese murder] has become the occasion for a general attack on the city. It is portrayed as callous, cruel, indifferent to the needs of the people and wholly inferior to the small town in quality of its personal relationships.” Dr. Iago Galdston also believed this explanation was the most accurate corollary theory to the bystander effect, stating: “I would assign this to the effect of the megalopolis in which we live which makes closeness very difficult and leads to the alienation of the individual to the group.” Another professor added that Genovese’s murder “goes to the heart of whether this is a community or a jungle.” These explanations became fodder for a growing sentiment for the symbolic nature of the murder as everything that was wrong with modern society.

It is likely that all of these theories played some role in contributing to the apathy of the witnesses that night in 1964. What can be said with certainty is that the bystander effect is largely responsible for the death of Kitty Genovese and that if the witnesses had acted, Genovese’s life could have surely been saved.

Kitty Genovese

The door where Kitty Genovese was found bleeding to death