Why Did Kitty Genovese Murder?

Thirty-eight people witnessed Kitty Genovese be stabbed to death. Not one alerted the police. Even more conflicting than the fact not one witness called the police is that all of these bystanders were righteous, law-abiding citizens (Gansberg; Rasenberger). How could one single person out of thirty-eight not have picked up a phone to call 911? Looking retrospectively, it is easy to say that one would immediately take action, but in that moment, full of fear and shock, would one really be able to react? After research on this mysterious fatality, sociologists concluded that the context and surroundings affected the witnesses more than their conscientious actions. Because thirty-eight other citizens were gaping at the horror right in front of
Because she worked at a bar, she often left work in the middle of the night, specifically three o’clock on March 13, 1964 (Worthen). She did this quite often, so she did not expect Winston Moseley to be waiting for her with a knife in hand. As she made her way to her apartment in Kew Gardens, Moseley followed her and attacked her for the first time. She screamed out in horror and a neighbor yelled down in attempt to scare the attacker off; it did not work (Gansberg; Worthen). Although he backed off, he knew nobody was calling the police and he struck again. This went on for thirty-five minutes without a witness calling the police. After the last stab inside her apartment, it took another fifteen minutes for the police to receive a call, fifty minutes after the initial attack
When questioned why nobody had not contacted the police, witnesses gave apprehensive answers such as, “‘we thought it was a lover’s quarrel,’” “‘the light from our bedroom made it difficult to see the street,’” and “‘I don't know’” (Gansberg). Even the Assistant Chief Inspector was baffled. Not because crime was not prevalent, “but because the ‘good people’ failed to call the police” (Gansberg). Years later, psychologists studied this case, still perplexed by the behavior of the neighbors.They concluded that “the greater the number of bystanders who view an emergency, the small the chance that any will intervene” (Rasenberger). The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell concludes that this is caused by the “bystander problem” (Gladwell 28). This relates back to the number of people who witness an emergency. Nobody thinks that they need to be the one to intervene; however, if one person does not stand up because they expect somebody else to, no change will ever happen. While this was a horrific murder, it lead sociologists to discover the Power of Context. The environment in which one is in has an enormous impact on how and individual acts (Gladwell 29). Had there been one or two witnesses instead of thirty-eight, Kitty Genovese may still be alive