When you see someone in danger, do you react? Do you stand there and watch? Or do you step in and intervene? It’s a hard decision, especially when you analyze the situation. On March 13th, 1964, some individuals made that choice. Their choices would later haunt them. Winston Moseley murdered and assaulted Kitty Genovese in the middle of the street, and no one did a thing. Why? Whose fault was it? Are they to blame too?
Kitty Genovese was twenty-eight years old and the manager of a local bar. The small apartment on Austin Street she shared with her girlfriend was home. The area where she lived wasn’t terrible. There were a couple of noisy bars on the street but usually, no one paid much attention. This was a normal neighborhood, where everyone knew each other.1 Her neighbors were friendly and crime was low. Of course, Kitty loved the city. Her Italian-American parents left New York due to urban crime, but Kitty refused. Kew Gardens, Queens was safe.2 Regardless of where she was, Kitty was the type of person everyone liked. Angelo Lanzone, one of her friends, would later say, “Kitty was attractive but there was more to her than looks, Kitty had charm.”3 She was friends with everyone, even with that odd neighbor, Karl Ross. He was quite strange, a bit quiet, but Kitty didn’t care. Kitty was nice to everyone. She had a friendly face. That’s what made her a great employee, and what was launching her career forward. She planned on opening her own Italian restaurant. 4 Kitty stood out from the crowd. Her charisma and kindness made her approachable. Nobody could miss her.
Winston Moseley worked as a machine operator in a town north of the Bronx. He was only twenty-nine years old but had already married twice. His childhood was rough after his mother walked out on him and his father, but life continued. His second wife Betty sometimes worried about his moods, but they had a normal marriage. Still, he was bitter, and he was angry. He felt that he had to work twice as hard as other workers, and Moseley didn’t feel as though he was someone’s equal. At times, he felt like he wasn’t standing out enough.5
At three in the morning, on March 13th, 1964, Kitty left her job and drove home. She parked and exited her car, like usual. As she got out, she noticed a figure near her. Kitty ran because she was near her apartment and close to safety. Later, when speaking to the court, Winston Moseley detailed the events of that night, “As she got out of the car, she saw me and ran. I ran after her and had a knife in my hand. I could run much faster than she could, and I jumped on her back and stabbed her several times.”6
When he struck, Kitty immediately cried out, as anyone would. She was loud enough to wake neighbors. “Oh my god, he stabbed me! Please help me!” she yelled. 7 At that moment, someone did react. Robert Mozer opened his window and shouted, “Leave that girl alone!”8 Moseley looked up at him, shrugged, and then he left. Although Mozer acted and managed to scare Moseley off, that was all that occurred. Kitty dragged herself into the nearest apartment in an attempt to find safety. She managed to make it to the back of the building to the door of her friend Karl Ross.
Moseley stayed in his car and waited until he realized no one would interfere any further. Then he returned to find Kitty. In his trial, he explained his reason for returning, “I’d not finished what I set out to do.”9
Karl Ross opened the door and saw Moseley on top of Kitty, but he closed the door. Ross had been drinking and was afraid. He believed that the attacker would harm him next, and he wasn’t willing to call the police out of fear. Ross assumed the questions would turn on him and his high level of alcohol. When he was under questioning, he said, “I didn’t want to get involved.”10 After he saw Kitty’s attack, he phoned another neighbor. Then he climbed out of his window and headed to another apartment. There, Ross called the police.11
Kitty Genovese’s story has resurfaced countless times, largely because of the significant number of witnesses. The New York Times reported a headline the day after the event that read, “37 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police.”12 Yet, the amount of witnesses varies from the police report. The report only listed six witnesses. There was outrage amongst the public. How could there be no interference from bystanders?13 Regardless of the misinformation; the facts remained. Kitty Genovese died, and no one provided immediate help or stepped in. In the end, the real question was, why did nobody help?
Altruism refers to unselfishness when it comes to the wellbeing of others. Social psychologists have analyzed the idea of an altruistic paradox. This is the way some people will perform self-sacrificial acts to benefit others. It’s a paradox because it’s a contradiction of survival of the fittest. This changes the narrative of selfish humans.14Were Kitty’s neighbor’s lacking altruism?
The bystander effect arose from Kitty Genovese’s attack. When in a large setting with many people, the chances of someone taking action in an event decreases. The chances of single individuals offering help when alone are a lot higher than in groups. This is due to the diffusion of responsibility between people. Without realizing it, individuals rely on other people in a group. The mentality of “they will do something” seems to settle among the crowd. Individuals look to each other to act first. Also, situational forces can sometimes overpower individuals’ personal beliefs. At times, a situation may affect someone’s behavior, even though the drive to act is there. An individual may feel overpowered by an event, and not react the way they would expect. Still, studies show that one person’s action could lead to a whole group reacting. 15 Many people heard Kitty scream, but they believed they were people arguing. Some even reported they believed someone else must have already called the police.16
Police arrested Winston Moseley five days after the attack. He confessed to the sexual assault and murder of Kitty Genovese. Moseley also admitted to the murders of Barbara Kralik and Anna Mae Johnson. They were also young women, who Moseley claimed to have been “compelled to kill.”17 His trial occurred on June 8th, 1964. He received the death sentence but later received a life sentence, due to a plead of insanity. All his parole hearings were not approved. Moseley died at 81 years old on March 28th, 2016, as the oldest inmate in his prison.18
Kitty Genovese’s attack lasted around 33 minutes. It occurred between 3:19 and 3:52 AM. To her, it probably would have felt an eternity.19 The retelling of her story still continues and her name lives on, although she didn’t. Kitty’s murder is in many places, textbooks, documentaries, and more. It’s become a myth, rather than the life of a young woman, who had begun to live. Kitty Genovese would have celebrated her 84th birthday in 2019.
It’s after midnight; the sun hasn’t risen yet. You’re in bed, already asleep. You hear a scream, someone is begging for help. You wake and look outside your window. A man is stabbing a woman, right below your apartment window. You’re scared, he’s armed. Has someone else already called the police? Someone else will go help her. Do you go anyways? It might not be so easy. Or is it? How do you know? What would you do?
- A.M. Rosenthal, Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964), 22. ↵
- Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese : the murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 27-30. ↵
- Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese : the murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 7. ↵
- Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese : the murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 56. ↵
- Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese : the murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 74. ↵
- Percy Smith, “Silent witness,” Safety & Health Practitioner 30, no. 5 (2012): 43. ↵
- A.M. Rosenthal, Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964), 23. ↵
- A.M. Rosenthal, Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964), 23. ↵
- Saul M. Kassin, “The Killing of Kitty Genovese: What Else Does This Case Tell Us?,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 12, no. 3 (2017): 375. ↵
- Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese: the murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 109. ↵
- Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese: the murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 112. ↵
- Arthur J. Lurigio, “Crime Narratives, Dramatizations, and the Legacy of the Kitty Genovese Murder: A Half Century of Half Truths,” Criminal Justice and Behavior 42, no. 7 (July 2015): 783. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018, s.v. “Kitty Genovese Dies as Her Cries for Help Are Ignored,” by Leigh Husband Kimmel. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018, s.v. “Altruism, cooperation, and empathy,” by Jim Fultz and Elizabeth Schafer. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018, s.v. “Bystander intervention and social psychology,” by Steve Nida. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018, s.v. “Kitty Genovese Dies as Her Cries for Help Are Ignored,” by Leigh Husband Kimmel. ↵
- Marcia M. Gallo, “The Parable of Kitty Genovese, the New York Times, and the Erasure of Lesbianism,” Journal of the History of Sexuality 23, no. 2 (2014): 283. ↵
- Salem Press Encyclopedia, 2018, s.v. “Kitty Genovese Dies as Her Cries for Help Are Ignored,” by Leigh Husband Kimmel. ↵
- Kevin Cook, Kitty Genovese : the murder, the bystanders, the crime that changed America (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014), 3-4. ↵
This Post Has 49 Comments
Luis Jaen
4 Mar 2020This crime story is something that I have never heard before reading this article, but it is very very interesting. This is a prime example of the psychological claim of the bystander effect, although there were so many witnesses no one truly stepped in to stop what was happening. This is such a sad story but it is something that is very important to realize. Stephanie mentions the idea of altruism, this could be an ideal portrayal of how that is not always the fact. Overall amazing article, I enjoyed how she infused the psychological factors of this crime!
Margaret Cavazos
1 Mar 2020This article asked questions of the reader and was written in an interesting way. What was most intriguing was that the whole first part of the article describes Kitty Genovese as beautiful, charming, young woman who was friendly with the neighborhood. This makes the second part of the article even more heartbreaking. There were many witnesses to her assault, and even while she survived the first attack, and was screaming for help, no one helped her. When her attacker saw that no one was coming to her aid, he murdered Kitty. The author does an amazing job writing this article and asking the readers to imagine how things could have been different for Kitty, had someone helped her, is thought-invoking.
Eliane Castorena
25 Feb 2020This is a very intriguing read! The way you told the story to make the reader really think of what they would do in that situation is really smart. It is truly sad to learn about what happened to Kitty Genovese. And it is even more upsetting and frustrating that so many people saw or heard this happening and did nothing really to help her. Sometimes fear does get the best of us, but we have to remember that, like in this case, a life is at stake.
Yuliana Vasquez
21 Feb 2020After reading this, I reflected on the question on ” what would you do’? I have never been in this situation but I would most likely call the police but on the side where no one saw me, so I could help but also not have the chance of being harmed. It’s so sad that people inside the apartments didn’t call the police Immediately when they saw the first stab, it’s not like the man would be able to enter inside their homes and he wouldn’t even know who called because there so many people. Overall. its great that they captured him
Sara Guerrero
20 Feb 2020It’s sad to read this story and that people were affected by the Bystander effect when Kitty Genovese was being murdered outside other people’s homes. I feel like nowadays people would act on a situation like this because of how much more advanced we have become as a society even though the bystander effect is still the same. It’s more upsetting that this case is not as popular, but it reflects part of society back in the day.
Melanie Fraire
18 Feb 2020This story is new to me, I’ve never heard of it however after reading this article I think it should be spoken about more to raise awareness on not just being a witness and acting on a situation in some sort of way. It was sad reading how close she was to her apartment surrounded by her neighbors and maybe even friends yet no one took time to report it or interfere. This story really makes you wonder if any other crimes in the past could’ve been prevented.
Ana Jimenez
5 Feb 2020Prior to reading the article, I have never heard of Kitty Genovese, and it is truly a heartbreaking one. It shocks me to have read that there were over thirty seven bystanders, yet no one did anything besides saying leave her alone and just look while the crime was being committed. It is also interesting how psychology had a big role in this in which case the all of the bystanders were waiting for someone to do something but did absolutely nothing.
Anthony Coronado
5 Feb 2020What an interesting case, of how a very public witness to a murder, and how no one tried to help the victim at all to be later killed later by the murderer. This story also shows the mental instability that enacted the person to be a relentless murderer as well as the background story to have an insight into the life of both the victim and the murderer
Jose Chaman
4 Feb 2020I had never heard of this crime, it is really scary, not only because of the fact that Kitty Genovese was stabbed and abused by Winston Moseley, but because nobody really acted to prevent it. It is really overwhelming to think about what would happen if this were repeated, as it is possible that no one does anything to help someone in those circumstances … not even call the police! Many times fear also governs us, but we must be clear that if we can prevent something bad from happening to someone, or help someone, we should not avoid doing so.