Bystander Effect

[thorne 0]

Recently I learned about the story of the murder of Catherine Genovese, who was killed even though 37 people were there to see and none called for help. Here is what happened:Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was the eldest of five children of Italian American parents, Vincent and Rachel, and graduated Brooklyn?s Prospect Heights High School in 1954. At time of her murder, she was 5?1? tall, weighed 105 lbs and was 28 years old. She was attractive and outgoing, and liked Latin American music and dancing and was interested in many subjects, especially history and politicsCatherine?s family lived in Brooklyn, New York where her father Vincent owned a fairly successful coat and apron supply company. After witnessing a shooting, they moved to New Canaan, Connecticut. Catherine remained in Brooklyn; her parents worried but accepted it. She had moved to Queens by 1963 and lived in a an apartment with her friend Mary Ann Zielonko on the second floor of a commercial building on Austin Street in Kew Gardens, a quiet, residential area. She worked as a bar manager in Ev?s Eleventh Hour Club which was five miles from her apartment. She drove there every night but didn?t return until late, even though walking in the dark made her nervous.At 3:15 AM on March 13, 1964, Catherine was returning home from work. She parked her red Fiat about 20 feet from her apartment, and while locking her door, she noticed a figure walking toward her. She began to run but the man started to follow her. He had a knife in his hand. Thinking she could reach the safety of the apartment quickly, she headed toward it, but the man was faster than she thought. She saw a police call box and changed direction to call for help, but the man caught her. He jumped on her back and stabbed her. She screamed ?Oh my God! He stabbed me! Please help me!? Apartment lights went on in nearby buildings. A man named Robert Mozer opened his window and yelled, ?Hey, let that girl alone!? The attacker left immediately, and the lights went out again.Catherine was now bleeding badly from her stab wounds. She reached the wall of the building and headed toward a door, trying to stay conscious, but the attacker returned within five minutes and stabbed her again. She cried out ?I?m dying!? and several people in the building heard. Lights went on and windows opened, and the attacker ran to a white Chevy Corvair parked nearby and drove away. At 3:25 AM, Catherine made it to the back of her apartment building and tried to enter, but the door was locked. She reached a hall which led to the 2nd floor of the building, but fell down onto the floor of the vestibule. By this time, the attacker had returned again and was looking around the area, wanting to finish what he had intended to do. He followed a trail of blood and found Catherine lying on the floor, defenseless. Then he cut off her bra and underwear and sexually assaulted her, took $49 from her wallet, and stabbed her again, killing her. He drove away. The entire incident took place in 32 minutes.At 3:50 AM, Karl Ross, a neighbor who lived on the second floor of the apartment building, called the police. They arrived within 3 minutes and found Catherine?s body. She had been stabbed 17 times, her clothes were cut and torn, and her wallet was lying open on the floor beside her. Detectives began investigating to find out what happened. They found there were 37 other witnesses, none of whom tried to help her. They believed that if someone had called when the attack started, Catherine might not have died. 30 detectives searched for the murderer, and after six days when a man was arrested for stealing a television, they found him.He was Winston Moseley and was 29 years old, just a year older than Catherine, and was 5?8? with a slight build and thin features. He lived in Queens, was married and with two children, and worked as a machine operator in Mt. Vernon.In addition to killing Catherine Genovese, Moseley claimed to have killed 15 year old Barbara Kralik on July 20 in Springfield Gardens of Queens, and also 24 year old Annie Mae Johnson in South Ozone Park on February 29. An 18 year old man named Alvin Mitchell had already been arrested for the killing of Barbara Kralik, but Moseley had details about the killing that supported the evidence that had been found concerning the murder. Even though there was no DNA testing at the time which could have proved it, the police were sure Moseley was telling the truth and had indeed killed Kralik. Moseley?s description of his killing of Annie Mae Johnson also seemed to contradict what was already believed. He said he shot her in the stomach, but the autopsy stated that her cause of death was puncture wounds. The body was taken from the cemetery so that a second autopsy could be done, and six bullets were found in Johnson?s body. Moseley also confessed to attacking many other people. He said he liked to roam the streets at night, searching for random victims. He had committed several burglaries and had raped and often robbed numerous women. He had had many failed attempts with rape though and even seemed to prefer that the victim be dead because there was ?no thrill with live women.?On June 8, 1964, the trial of Winston Moseley took place. Originally, he pled ?not guilty.? But he had already confessed to the killing and even described how it had been performed, so such a plea seemed crazy. At the last minute, his attorney, Sidney G. Sparrow, changed the plea to ?not guilty by reason of insanity? even though a state psychiatrist had said Moseley was sane. There were four residents of Kew Gardens who testified at the trial, giving details about the murder they had witnessed. But Moseley was the one who provided the most information. Sparrow himself called Moseley to the stand on June 11 to testify since he hoped the jury would believe that Moseley was insane. He asked Moseley about his previous crimes, and Moseley confessed that he had stabbed Barbara Kralik, whom he had wanted to rape but had been scared away, and shot Annie Mae Johnson. He said that he intended to kill Johnson and shot her several times to make sure she was dead. Then he raped her and set her body on fire in her living room.Moseley talked about how he had gone out on the night of Catherine Genovese?s murder determined to kill someone, for once the idea entered his head, he had been unable to get rid of it. He set out with a hunting knife taken from a previous burglary and stabbed Catherine. When the apartment lights came on, he moved his car so it couldn?t be seen, but mostly remained unconcerned since he had a feeling the people would just go back to sleep.The defense and prosecution summed up the case on June 11:Sparrow claimed that Moseley was schizophrenic and legally insane, living a ?Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde? life. During the day, he lived like a normal citizen, but at night he turned into a fiend addicted to murder. Sparrow asked, ?Was it sane for him to go on about what he was doing when 10, 20, 30 or 50 people were opening windows, opening and closing doors, yelling at him?? But the prosecuting attorney Frank Cacciatore said that Moseley was a monster nonetheless who should be punished for his horrible actions. The judge, J. Irwin Shapiro, explained the insanity plea. He said, ?Legal sanity means a person must be held criminally responsible for his conduct, unless he has such a defect of reason that he cannot distinguish between right and wrong.?The jury began deliberating at 4 PM at the Queens Supreme Court building. Less than seven hours later, at 10:30, they reached a verdict. They had found Moseley guilty of murder in the first degree. Only about 10 people were there when this was announced, since most people had thought the verdict would not be reached until Monday. Even the Genovese family was not there, for they wanted to protect the family from publicity.Moseley came back for sentencing on June 15, where many people had gathered to see what would happen. The prosecution was allowed to bring in anything else that seemed important to show other aspects of the defendant?s corrupt behavior. Four women said that Moseley had attacked them in addition the others he mentioned. One had been beaten, one raped, and all four robbed. Cacciatore said that life imprisonment wasn?t enough for Moseley since he would still be alive and possibly be able to ?stalk the streets again.? The jury considered the sentence and came to a decision shortly. They recommended the death penalty, and the spectators cheered upon hearing it. Judge Shapiro said, ?I don?t believe in capital punishment, but when I see this monster, I wouldn?t hesitate to pull the switch myself!?Moseley went to the Department of Corrections after he was convicted and eventually was sent to Attica prison. His death sentence was reduced to life imprisonment though, for in 1967, the New York State Court of Appeals found evidence of his mental condition that should have been in the trial. In 1968, Moseley was being transferred to a hospital in Buffalo when he stole a guard?s gun. He took five people hostage, and even raped a woman in front of her husband. The FBI located him and sent an agent after him, and for half an hour, he and Moseley pointed guns at each other point-blank while negotiating.Moseley finally surrendered and went back to Attica prison. He became philosophical, and after witnessing a riot in 1971 which killed 10 guards and 29 prisoners, he decided that he was going to make up for his past misconduct. He wrote a letter to The Times in which he expressed his thoughts about his killings and his imprisonment and stated that he was a new man determined to do constructive things. He even said that his murdering Catherine did ?serve society,? for it made people see how wrong the apathy of those who saw the murder but did not call for help was. The article was published.When he realized he would be eligible for parole, Moseley became more set on his goal to become a different man. He read books in the prison library and was even able to enroll in a college program where he received a B.A. in Sociology, becoming one of the first inmates in New York to earn a college degree.Between 1984 and 1995, he appeared before the state parole board six times, but was denied parole. In 1995, when Moseley was 60 years old, he appealed to a federal court for a new trial. He claimed that since his attorney Sparrow had once represented Catherine Genovese on a minor gambling charge, he had a conflict of interest and could not have adequately defended him in his trial. But on November 13, the judge denied this request, and Moseley was sent back to prison. Currently, he is at Great Meadows Correction Facility in upstate New York.The murder of Catherine Genovese was not big news when it first occurred, for many killings had happened. It got little attention until The Times published Martin Gansberg?s article ?37 Who Saw Murder Didn?t Call? on March 27, 1964, two weeks after the killing. It was believed that Catherine could have survived if one of the witnesses had called for help when she first shrieked. By mid-April of that year, the case became much more well-known, and people began to think about the apathy of society, which was sometimes called the ?Kitty Genovese Syndrome.? For the past forty years, her murder has been studied and analyzed, and has become a symbol of modern city life in which people are too afraid or too self-centered to help someone else.~~~I found this story fascinating and shocking. The idea that all those people were present during a murder, yet none called for help, is appalling. Many psychological experiments were conducted to further study the bystander effect, and it was found that, in the case of emergency, people are more likely to seek help if they are alone than if they are in a crowd. When many people are present, responsibility "disperses" and each person feels less like it's their duty to do something.Quite interesting.