The Victy Genvesse's Case: The Case Of The Kitty Genovese Case

The Kitty Genovese case still shocks us to this day even after 50 years of its occurrence. Why is it that he story made the Genovese murder front-page news around the world? Maybe because after the story was published people were shocked at how 38 people saw the crime and did nothing to stop it.

On the night of March, 1964 Kitty Genovese was brutally stabbed to death. There are at least three factors that make Kitty Genovese’s murder unforgettable. First, it was a random act without reason. Second, the brutality of the crime, which consisted of three separate attacks where she endured several stab wounds in a period of half an hour. And finally, the fact that Kitty’s cries for help were heard by 38 people but none of them chose to call the

Second, to scream, or give the perpetrator attention by telling him to leave Kitty alone, as one of the bystanders did. And finally, when your safety is not compromised seek aid for the person in the situation.

The first thing to do in this situation would be to call the police, this way even though you are not directly interfering in the attack you are still giving some help to the victim without exposing yourself to danger. The value of community is present here, if someone is screaming for help on the street even though you might not have all the information about what is going on you might get some sense that something that is not right is happening and go help.

Second, it is important to give the perpetrator some attention. The killer had the chance to attack Kitty two times, before he left her to die. After one of the bystanders screamed at him to leave her alone, he got scared and actually left, and it was not until he saw there was nobody around to stop him that he came back to continue to stab Kitty. It takes some courage and involvement from everyone’s part to take action like this. One person took this action and made the perpetrator stop, even if it was for just a couple of minutes. If more people would have done this, without exposing themselves too much, they could have given Kitty more time to

Arguing that their inaction was immoral to their responsibilities as a community will not offer a rebuttal to the argument that people will not help their fellows. Social proof and pluralistic ignorance give us some sort of reconciliation in the contradiction of Kitty’s case. How a group of people decent people did not give help. They had the moral responsibility to do something, as long as they are doing something to help the person they are fulfilling their responsibility and obligation to do