Kitty Genovese Research Paper

The Silent Witnesses: Should they be held accountable?

Everyone claims there is a moral standard in the world, yet how rarely do you see people living to this standard? Maybe Kitty Genovese would have lived if this moral standard was lived up to in most situations in society. In Queens, New York on March 13, 1964, Kitty Genovese was raped and stabbed outside of Kew Gardens apartment complex. It started off as per usual with Mrs. Genovese heading home from her bartending job. As she was walking back to her apartment, she was approached by her aggressor and was stabbed twice in the back. Kitty screamed and pleaded for help and only one of her neighbors replied, “Hey! Leave that girl alone from their apartment causing the aggressor to run off.

After 10 minutes the aggressor had then returned and frantically searched for Kitty, when the aggressor eventually found Mrs. Genovese he proceeded to then rape, mug, and continue stabbing her for a span of 30 minutes which resulted in her unfortunate passing. No calls were made until around 45 minutes later. Mrs. Genovese could ve still been alive and well to this day if the 32 people who heard her screams had done something besides watch from their windows. If these 32 people followed the moral standard of our society, she would have been saved, but they chose to conform to the bystander effect. An effect placed on people that withholds them from their own individual decisions but instead drives them to follow the majority's decision. This situation is seen in many aspects of our current world and happens at a frequent rate. Could a governing law that would prevent others from “doing nothing” perhaps fix this recurring issue? The Genovese syndrome, also referred to as the bystander effect, is a theory that individuals are less inclined to intervene or take action in situations where there are others present. This was discovered in the Kitty Genovese case, explained earlier in this article. Where 32 people watched Mrs.

In order to prevent future catastrophes like this, there should be a bystander law instated into our society that provokes people from being careless and neglectful to situations and forces them to help unless it endangers themselves. If people choose to not help when given the appropriate opportunity, they will have to in turn suffer a hefty fine, or even possible imprisonment. This law would provide sufficient resolutions towards many issues within our current society and make our communities more safe and habitable. Arguers against the law introduce the idea that partaking in the bystander law could perhaps make the situation worse than not intervening, which in some cases is in fact true, but how could making something as simple as a phone call to a first responder have a negative effect? It wouldn't, it would only be beneficial to the situation. This proves how even doing something as little as making a phone call could in fact save someone's life, instead of turning a shoulder and ignoring the situation altogether. Recent and past news events involving bystanders who witness but do not report or help victims in crisis have led concerned citizens in the state of California, and across the country, to lobby their