Passing by Kitty Genovese

Let me tell you a story.

In 1964, there was a pretty young Italian-American woman by the name of Kitty Genovese. She lived in an apartment complex in New York City. One night, after returning home in the early hours of the morning, she was attacked by Winston Moseley. He chased her and stabbed her twice, causing her to cry out for help. Some residents heard her cries, some saw her struggle. One called out, causing the attacker to flee to his car. Kitty staggered her way to her apartment. In his car, Moseley changed his outfit and then searched the complex for Kitty. Finding her, he then robbed her, stabbed her and sexually assaulted her. The whole sequence of attacks took approximately half an hour. Police arrived later in response to a phonecall from a witness after the second attack and after Moseley had left. Kitty died on her way to the hospital.

At least a dozen of Kitty's neighbours had witnessed parts of the attacks. At least one was quoted as saying, "I didn't want to get involved."

This event prompted national outrage at the perceived callousness of these neighbours. It also stirred psychologists to investigate the phenomena called the bystander effect. Contrary to what you might expect, large numbers of people are less likely to assist someone in need than lone individuals are. If we see someone lying in a crowded street, we rationalise away the urge to help them: "someone else will be more qualified", "nobody else is responding so there is probably nothing wrong", or "I might get in trouble if I get involved".

Whilst human nature may be essentially good, its flaws always run us the risk of ruin. What can be done when there is something wrong inside of us?

We now know that the solution is two-fold. If you are in a position to help someone, you should ignore the presence of others and do what feels right as an individual. It may save a live. If you are in a stricken position, call out to specific individuals for aid, not just general cries for help. The answer is that people must take individual responsibility: observers must demand it of themselves, the vulnerable must demand it of observers. If this responsibility is diffused across the group, then nobody feels sufficiently compelled to intervene because everybody expects somebody else to.

I have seen it myself, most commonly in fights. Two people start to tussle and the crowd circles to watch. Nobody wants to see two people hurt each other but nobody interjects because they fear getting hurt, they fear getting involved, they think maybe there are friends of the fighters that are better placed to intervene. I have always stepped in and attempted to diffuse such situations. This carries a real and sometimes realised risk of getting hit. Yet what tends to happen is not an escalation of violence, but that one person catalyses the responses of others to calm things. Once one person steps in to stop the fight, others do too (having been waiting for some affirmation that it was okay to do so).

It is about individuals taking responsibility for the safety of society. If you don't want people fighting, then you have to be willing to try and stop them. If you don't want people dying on the streets, then you have to be willing to stop and help them. You cannot rely on others do so, though your actions may set an example for them to follow. Like all people, there have been times when I have been guilty of passing by on the other side and there have been times when I have been my brother's keeper. I will try to always follow the latter path. I hope others do too. Kitty Genovese deserves no less.