Kitty Genovese, 1964
On March 13, 1964, Catherine “Kitty” Genovese was stabbed to death outside her apartment in Queens, New York. Kitty was killed by Winston Moseley, and she was not his only victim. She was a bar manager, so was coming in late at night on March 13. Neither her murder nor her murderer make her influential, nor does her life. Kitty Genovese was an ordinary young woman, and her murder was not that unusual in the streets of New York.
Kitty did not die immediately; she screamed, Moseley came back and she screamed again, having staggered into the vestibule of her building. The New York Times reported that well over 30 individuals heard her scream. It should be noted that while the Times report was highly influential, a recent thorough review by Kitty Genovese’s own brother has shown that there were two calls to the police that night. The police, believing it to be a domestic incident, failed to respond.
Regardless of the inaccuracies of the Times Report, there certainly were individuals who heard Kitty scream, and ignored her screams. At least one witness was aware she had been stabbed and did not call the police or offer aid. Certainly, as people still do to some extent, many chose to not get involved.
These reports led to discussions of the “bystander effect,” sometimes called “Genovese syndrome”. Essentially, the bystander effect supposes that an individual is unlikely to step up to offer aid if others have not. Today, regardless of the realities of Genovese’s murder, the bystander effect is still taught in introductory psychology classes.
The outcry over the lack of response to Kitty Genovese’s screams directly contributed to something we still rely upon today—the 9-1-1 system. The public outcry over the lack of response to her screams intensified the ongoing conversations about the need for an accessible emergency response system.