One of America’s most infamous crimes is the murder of Kitty Genovese, a 28-year-old bar manager, which occurred 50 years ago this week. It is cited in psychology textbooks as a prime example of the “bystander effect.”
Thirty-seven individuals reportedly witnessed a murderer “stalk and knife” Genovese without notifying the police, according to a report from The New York Times at the time.
According to reports, those 37 neighbors in Kew Gardens, Queens, felt a “diffusion of responsibility.” They, therefore, believed that Genovese, who was only a little taller than five feet, would be assisted by someone else.
❶ ᴛʜʀᴇᴀᴅ
The murder of Kitty Genovese in March 1964 — infamous for the almost 40 neighbors who "refused to get involved" — had a huge impact on the American psyche & added to the cynical environment in which Jonesers grew up. But that narrative's false. The truth: ⭝ pic.twitter.com/CCxVcUcz4O
— ✦ᴊᴏɴᴇsɪɴɢ ғᴏʀ ᴘʀᴏsᴘᴇʀɪᴛʏ™✦ 🟦🟧 (@GenJones1964) March 16, 2023
The story of Kitty Genovese, which served as the basis for much of the psychology study that led to the discovery of the bystander effect, is essentially untrue, according to professionals who have studied the case. It’s questionable whether 37 witnesses to the murder in fact witnessed it, or whether anyone reported it to the authorities.
”Yeah, there was a murder,” lawyer Joseph DeMay, who has poured over the case, told The New York Times on the 40th anniversary of the murder. ”Yeah, people heard something. You can question how a few people behaved. But this wasn’t 38 people watching a woman be slaughtered for 35 minutes and saying, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be involved.'”
ok but this is not the bystander effect and the case that inspired psychologists to find a bystander effect, the story of 38 neighbors ignoring Kitty Genovese’s screams as she was murdered, was a lie https://t.co/u1XYbrKKI5
— Teresa (@teresaw_) March 18, 2023
The first comprehensive account of the Genovese murder was published by The New York Times two weeks after it happened on the top page of an article that created a heartbreaking image of the neighbors who decided not to call the police.
Thirty-eight decent, law-abiding Queens residents witnessed a killer stalk and stab a woman in three different incidents in Kew Gardens for more than thirty minutes. Nobody called the police during the assault; one witness did so after the victim had passed away.
https://twitter.com/SunnaSolz/status/1633795451378970627
Later, the story says that one neighbor “sheepishly” told police, “I didn’t want to get involved.”
It was horrific to imagine a small woman being stabbed while her neighbors watched, and the Genovese narrative quickly acquired popularity. The number of those who apparently didn’t help — 38 — was repeated and again.
OTD in 1964: The Murder of Kitty Genovese
The murder gained national prominence due to a NYT article saying dozens of people had heard the rape and murder but did little to nothing – the 'bystander effect'. This event becomes woven into The Watchmen as the origin of a mask. pic.twitter.com/da1JDvWsnN
— Jeffs Comics (@jeffs_comics) March 13, 2023
Yet over the years, many have revisited the case to identify key inaccuracies in The Times’ narrative, as Nicholas Lemann reports in The New Yorker.
Lemann cites the following key details. Winston Moseley, Genovese’s assassin, saw the young woman while driving around and searching for a victim. He then followed her home. He attacked her with a hunting knife as she parked across from her apartment. When she cried, Walter Mozer, a neighbor, smashed open his window and said, “Leave that girl alone.”
Mosley accelerated away. Genovese stumbled into a building entryway while still alive and wounded. Moseley came back to the vestibule and attacked her again. The second, more vicious attack took place inside, away from most of her neighbors.
Although some neighbors may have heard some of the attacks, according to Joseph DeMay, the attorney who investigated the case, many of the neighbors thought the battle was the result of a fight between lovers or a drunken argument. Lemann further claimed that two neighbors did in fact call the police.
On this date March 13 in 1964, Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death outside of her apartment. Photo source: New York Police Department. #OTD pic.twitter.com/EXmseGzfWe
— Dr. Jeffrey Guterman (@JeffreyGuterman) March 13, 2023
“It was a time when the police weren’t necessarily your friend. You can’t call a central dispatcher; you call the number on your yellow pages, usually, and then a desk sergeant, whoever picks up the phone, [a] communications officer, will take your report,” Cook told NPR.
Of course, folks can now just dial 911 if someone else is in danger. Due to the legend surrounding the Genovese case, the “bystander effect” is probably also known to most people in modern times. In that regard, it’s possible that the Genovese case—which was erroneously reported—inspired people to call the police about violent crimes.
Kitty Genovese's full story is very often brushed over during intro to psych classes. The true story is a lot more complex and throws a wrench into our understanding of bystander effect. Listen to the full episode to learn more. pic.twitter.com/RXO0cYj4te
— Psych Mind (@PsychMindedPod) March 12, 2023
The New York Times noted that, just a few years after Genovese’s murder, citizens of Queens reacted fast to try to save a woman who was being attacked with an ax. Police were already warning people about the Genovese case at that time. An unidentified policeman made a statement to The Times, “It was the exact opposite of the Kitty Genovese affair.”