Kitty Genovese

In 1964  28-year-old Kitty Genovese was stabbed to death in Queens.  She became famous after A.M. Rosenthal of the New York Times wrote Thirty-Eight Witnesses.  38 people heard her call for help and did nothing.  Well, not exactly nothing.  One guy yelled out of his window, and the assailant left for a time.  Then he came back and finished his work.  Eventually somebody did call the police, but Ms. Genovese died on the way to the hospital.

The case is frequently discussed in psychology books as an example of how bystanders  fail to react because they think someone else will.  Now two recently published books, both entitled Kitty Genovese, take a fresh look at the case.  They quibble at the details--for example, maybe 38 witnesses was too high a number.  The assailant came back twice, not three times as originally reported.  Ms. Genovese died in the ambulance, not on the doorstep.  Oh, yes, and she was a lesbian.

None of that matters to me.  The Kitty Genovese story had a major impact on many people, including me.  If I remember correctly, and keep in mind this was 50 years ago, a Boston DJ named urged everyone to carry a dime at all times.  That way, if they saw something wrong, they could go to a pay phone and call the police.  At the time I made up my mind that if I was ever in a situation where someone needed help, I would react. 

Since then there have been a number of times when, I’m proud to say, I have intervened, although nothing as dramatic as aiding someone getting stabbed.  I am not the only one.  I’ve often thought that Kitty Genovese’s death, as terrible as it was, was not in vain.