Kitty Genovese

Infobox Person
name = Kitty Genovese


caption = Kitty Genovese, picture from "The New York Times" article: "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police"
birth_name = Catherine Susan Genovese
birth_date = birth date|1935|07|07
birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, USA
death_date = death date and age|1964|03|13|1935|07|07
death_place = Kew Gardens, NY,Kenneth T. Jackson: "The Encyclopedia of New York City": The New York Historical Society; Yale University Press; 1995. P. 458.] USA
death_cause = Murder by stabbing
resting_place = Lakeview Cemetery
New Canaan, Connecticut
resting_place_coordinates = coord|41|08|34|N|73|29|01|W
nationality = flagcountry|United States
known_for = Sensational "New York Times" article about the murder
employer = Ev's Eleventh Hour Club
Hollis, New York, USA
title = Manager
partner =
footnotes =

Catherine Susan Genovese (July 7, 1935cite web| url = http://www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-nytimes-3-6.html| title = Kitty Genovese| accessdate = 2007-03-12| work = A Picture History of Kew Gardens, NY|last=Demay |first=Joseph| language = English] — March 13, 1964), commonly known as Kitty Genovese, was a New York City woman who was stabbed to death near her home in the Kew Gardens section of Queens, New York. [cite news|publisher=New York Times|date=1964-03-14|title=Queens Woman Is Stabbed to Death in Front of Home|url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10611FB395415738DDDAD0994DB405B848AF1D3|page=26 |accessdate=2007-07-05] Genovese was buried in a family grave at Lakeview Cemetery in New Canaan, Connecticut.

The circumstances of her murder and the supposed lack of reaction of numerous neighbors were reported by a newspaper article published two weeks later; the common portrayal of neighbors being fully aware, but completely nonresponsive has later been criticized as inaccurate. Nonetheless, it prompted investigation into the social psychological phenomenon that has become known as the bystander effect (seldom: "Genovese syndrome") [cite news|title=20 years after the murder of Kitty Genovese, The question remains: Why?| last=Dowd| url=http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F2091EF8395D0C718DDDAA0894DC484D81 |page=B1|first=Maureen|authorlink=Maureen Dowd|publisher=New York Times| date=1984-03-12|accessdate=2007-07-05] and especially diffusion of responsibility.

Life

Born in New York City; the daughter of Rachel (née Petrolli), and Vincent Andronelle Genovese, she was the oldest of five children in a middle-class Italian American family and was raised in Brooklyn. After her mother witnessed a murder in the city, the family chose to move to Connecticut in 1954. Genovese, nineteen at the time and a recent graduate of Prospect Heights High School in Brooklyn, chose to remain in the city, where she lived for nine years. At the time of her death, she was working as a bar manager at Ev's 11th Hour Sports Bar on Jamaica Avenue in Hollis, Queens. It was revealed on the fortieth anniversary of her death in 2004 that Genovese was a lesbian who shared a Queens apartment with her girlfriend Mary Ann Zielonko. [ [http://www.soundportraits.org/on-air/remembering_kitty_genovese/ Remembering Kitty Genovese] , SoundPortraits, 13 March 2004] There is, however, no evidence that her sexual orientation had any bearing on her attack and murder.

Attack

Genovese had driven home in the early morning of March 13 1964. Arriving home at about 3:15 a.m. and parking about 100 feet (30 m) from her apartment's door, she was approached by Winston Moseley, a business machine operator. Moseley ran after her and quickly overtook her, stabbing her twice in the back. When Genovese screamed out, she screamed, "Oh my God, he stabbed me! Help me!" it was heard by several neighbors; but on a cold night with the windows closed, only a few of them recognized the sound as a cry for help. When one of the neighbors shouted at the attacker, "Let that girl alone!", Moseley ran away and Genovese slowly made her way towards her own apartment around the end of the building. She was seriously injured, but now out of view of those few who may have had reason to believe she was in need of help.

Records of the earliest calls to police are unclear and were certainly not given a high priority by the police. One witness said his father called police after the initial attack and reported that a woman was "beat up, but got up and was staggering around."cite book | first = A.M.| last = Rosenthal| year = 1964| title = Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case| publisher = University of California Press| id = ISBN 0-520-21527-3]

Other witnesses observed Moseley enter his car and drive away, only to return ten minutes later. In his car, he changed his hat to a wide-rimmed one to shadow his face. He systematically searched the parking lot, train station, and small apartment complex, ultimately finding Genovese, who was lying, barely conscious, in a hallway at the back of the building. Out of view of the street and of those who may have heard or seen any sign of the original attack, he proceeded to further attack her, stabbing her several more times. Knife wounds in her hands suggested that she attempted to defend herself from him. While she lay dying, he sexually assaulted her. He stole about $49 from her and left her dying in the hallway. The attacks spanned approximately half an hour.

A few minutes after the final attack, a witness, Karl Ross, called the police. Police and medical personnel arrived within minutes of Ross' call; Genovese was taken away by ambulance and died en route to the hospital. Later investigation by police and prosecutors revealed that approximately a dozen (but almost certainly not the 38 cited in the "Times" article) individuals nearby had heard or observed portions of the attack, though none could have seen or been aware of the entire incident. [cite journal|url=http://www.americanheritage.com/articles/magazine/ah/2006/5/2006_5_65.shtml|first=Jim |last=Rasenberger |title=Nightmare On Austin Street |journal=American Heritage Magazine |month=October|year=2006] Only one witness (Joseph Fink) was aware she was stabbed in the first attack, and only Karl Ross was aware of it in the second attack. Many were entirely unaware that an assault or homicide was in progress; some thought that what they saw or heard was a lovers' quarrel or a drunken brawl or a group of friends leaving the bar outside when Moseley first approached Genovese.

Perpetrator

Winston Moseley , a business machine operator of African-American descent, was later apprehended in connection with burglary charges; he confessed not only to the murder of Kitty Genovese, but to two other murders, both involving sexual assaults. Subsequent psychiatric examinations suggested that Moseley was a necrophiliac. He was convicted of murder and sentenced to death.

Moseley gave a confession to the police where he detailed the attack, corroborating the physical evidence at the scene. His motive for the attack was simply "to kill a woman." Moseley stated that he got up that night around 2:00 a.m., leaving his wife asleep at home, and drove around to find a victim. He spied Genovese and followed her to the parking lot.

Moseley also testified at his own trial where he further described the attack, leaving no question that he was the killer.

The initial death sentence was reduced to an indeterminate sentence of 20 years to life imprisonment on June 1 1967. The New York Court of Appeals found that Moseley should have been able to argue that he was "medically insane" at the sentencing hearing when the trial court found that he had been legally sane.

In 1968, during a trip to a Buffalo, New York hospital for surgery (precipitated by a soup can he placed in his own rectum as a pretext to leave prison), Moseley overpowered a guard and beat him up to the point that his eyes were bloody. He then took a bat and swung it at the closest person to him and took five hostages, raping one of them before he was recaptured after a two-day manhunt. He also participated in the later Attica Prison riots. [cite news|title=Once Again, A Killer Makes His Pitch|url=http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/25/nyregion/25about.html?n=Top/News/U.S./Columns/This%20Land|publisher=New York Times |date=2006-05-26|accessdate=2008-03-28|last=Barry |first=Dan |page=b1]

Moseley remains in prison after being denied parole a thirteenth time on March 11 2008. A previous parole hearing included his defense that "For a victim outside, it's a one-time or one-hour or one-minute affair, but for the person who's caught, it's forever." [Joe Mahoney, " [http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/388433p-329502c.html Kitty's Killer Denied Parole — Again] ," "New York Daily News", 4 February 2006.]

Public reaction

Many saw the story of Genovese's murder as an example of the callousness or apathy supposedly prevalent in New York City, urban America, or humanity in general. Much of this framing of the event came in reaction to an investigative article [Martin Gansberg, " [http://www.selu.edu/Academics/Faculty/scraig/gansberg.html Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police] ," New York Times, 27 March 1964.] in "The New York Times" written by Martin Gansberg and published on March 27, two weeks after the murder. The article bore the headline "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder Didn't Call the Police"; the public view of the story crystallized around a quote from the article, from an unidentified neighbor who saw part of the attack but deliberated, before finally getting another neighbor to call the police: "I didn't want to get involved."

Other reports, cited by Harlan Ellison in his book "Harlan Ellison's Watching", stated that one man turned up his radio so that he would not hear Genovese's screams. Ellison says that the report he read attributed the "get involved" quote to nearly all of the thirty-eight who supposedly witnessed the attack. He later repeated the figure of thirty-eight (this time using an expletive to collectively describe them) when mentioning the case in his book "The Other Glass Teat".

While Genovese's neighbors were vilified by the article, "Thirty-Eight onlookers who did nothing" is a misleading conception. The article begins:

:"For more than half an hour thirty-eight respectable, law-abiding citizens in Queens watched a killer stalk and stab a woman in three separate attacks in Kew Gardens."

The lead is dramatic but factually inaccurate. None of the witnesses observed the attacks in their entirety. Because of the layout of the complex and the fact that the attacks took place in different locations, no witness saw the entire sequence. Most only heard portions of the incident without realizing its seriousness, a few saw only small portions of the initial assault, and no witnesses directly saw the final attack and attempted rape in an exterior hallway which resulted in Genovese's death.

Nevertheless, media attention to the Genovese murder led to reform of the NYPD's telephone reporting system; the system in place at the time of the assault was often inefficient and directed individuals to the incorrect department. The melodramatic press coverage also led to serious investigation of the bystander effect by academic psychologists. In addition, some communities organized Neighborhood Watch programs and the equivalent for apartment buildings to aid people in distress.

Psychological research prompted by the murder

The supposed lack of reaction of numerous neighbors watching the scene prompted research into diffusion of responsibility and the bystander effect. Social psychologists Darley and Latané started this line of research, showing that contrary to common expectations, larger numbers of bystanders decrease the likelihood that someone will step forward and help a victim. Reasons include that onlookers see that others—actually or presumably—do not help either, that onlookers believe others will know better how to help (not recognizing that nobody does), that onlookers feel insecure helping with others watching, and the general theme that onlookers tend not to act if there are more bystanders present (see specific articles for details). The "Kitty Genovese case" thus became a textbook classic in psychology and especially social psychology textbooks.

In September 2007, the "American Psychologist" published an examination of the factual basis of coverage of the Kitty Genovese murder in psychology textbooks. The three authors concluded the story is parable more than fact, largely owing to inaccurate newspaper coverage at the time of the incident. [cite journal
last = Manning
first = R.
authorlink =
coauthors = Levine, M; Collins, A.
title = The Kitty Genovese murder and the social psychology of helping; The parable of the 38 witnesses
journal = American Psychologist
volume =
issue = 62
pages = 555–562
month = September | year = 2007
url =
format =
id =
accessdate = ] "The since-challenged story of the circumstances surrounding Genovese's death 'continues to inhabit introductory social psychology textbooks (and thus the minds of future social psychologists),' the trio of British university professors write in the September issue of "American Psychologist". The result is a lack of research into similar cases, their article maintains". [cite url | publisher=Associated Press | last=McShane | first=Larry | title=Genovese Syndrome: Fact or Fiction?| url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/discoveries/2007-10-01-genovese-syndrome-questioned_N.htm | accessdate=2008-06-06 ]

Aftermath

According to "The New York Times", in an article dated December 28, 1974, ten years after the murder, 25-year-old Sandra Zahler was beaten to death early Christmas morning in an apartment of the building which overlooked the site of the Genovese attack. Neighbors again said they heard screams and "fierce struggles" but did nothing. [Robert D. McFadden, " [http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F30614FD355F107A93C5AB1789D95F408785F9 A Model's Dying Screams Are Ignored At the Site of Kitty Genovese's Murder] ", "New York Times" 27 December 1974, retrieved 7 March 2007.]

Moseley returned for another parole hearing Thursday, March 13, 2008, the 44th anniversary of Ms. Genovese's murder. It was denied. He will be eligible to go up for parole again in 2010. cite web| date=March 10, 2008|title =Deny parole to '64 Kitty Genovese horror killer, says victim's brother| subtitle =Let Him Rot for 40 More Years| publisher =New York Daily News| url =http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/queens/2008/03/10/2008-03-10_deny_parole_to_64_kitty_genovese_horror_.html| accessdate=2008-03-10] The previous week, Moseley had turned 72 years old, and has still shown little remorse for murdering Genovese. Genovese's brother, Vincent, was unaware of the March 13 hearing until he was contacted by "Daily News" reporters. Vincent Genovese has reportedly never "recovered from the horror" of his sister's murder. "This brings back what happened to her", Vincent had said; "the whole family remembers".

In popular culture

* In 1975, ABC broadcast the TV-Movie, "Death Scream", based on the Kitty Genovese case.
* In the 1985 graphic novel "Watchmen" a vigilante named Rorschach reacts in outrage to the murder by donning a costume and fighting crime.
* Early in the film "The Boondock Saints", the case is used in a Catholic priest's sermon, in which he states, "..there is another kind of evil which we must fear most, and that is the indifference of good men", later inspiring the McManus brothers to become vigilantes in the name of God.
* Harlan Ellison has stated that his short story "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" was inspired by the Genovese murder.
* The murder is referenced with irony in a Phil Ochs' song about apathy, "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends".
* Genovese's story is cited in the Latter-day Saint book "The Miracle of Forgiveness" as an example of committing a sin by failing to do something right, rather than actively doing something wrong. The bystanders who did nothing are compared to the Levite and priest who passed the injured Jew in Jesus' Parable of the Good Samaritan. [Spencer W. Kimball, "The Miracle of Forgiveness," p. 99 ]
* The 1996 episode of "Law & Order" entitled "Remand" is based on the case.
* In the Spike Lee movie "Summer of Sam", the main characters briefly mention the Kitty Genovese murder after talking about the S.O.S. murders sweeping the city.
* In the first part of the BBC radio series, "Case Studies", broadcast 7th May, 2008, psychologist Claudia Hammond re-investigated the case with regard to studies into the bystander effect.

References

ee also

* Civil courage
* Diffusion of responsibility
* Good Samaritan
* Volunteer's dilemma
* "Chronicle of a Death Foretold"

Book

* cite book | first = A.M.| last = Rosenthal| year = 1964| title = Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case| pages = | publisher = University of California Press| id = ISBN 0-520-21527-3

External links

* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/kitty_genovese/1.html?sect=2 Court TV's Crime Library story on Kitty Genovese]
*Joseph De May Jr., "Kitty Genovese: What you think you know about the case might not be true." A reinvestigation by a member of the Richmond Hill Historical Society, this comes in two versions:
** [http://www.oldkewgardens.com/ss-nytimes-3.html Single page] that analyzes and argues with Gansberg's article, with links to other material.
** [http://www.oldkewgardens.com/kitty_genovese-001.html This] and thirteen subsequent pages constitute a version that is more visually attractive. (Although billed as shorter, it too is comprehensive.)
* [http://www.soundportraits.org/on-air/remembering_kitty_genovese/ "Sound Portrait" interview with Mary Ann Zielonko, Kitty Genovese's girlfriend] audio and transcript
* [http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/predators/kitty_genovese/1.html Crime Library]
* [http://www.cs.pdx.edu/~trent/ochs/lyrics/small-circle-of-friends.html Phil Ochs' "Outside of a Small Circle of Friends" lyrics]
* [http://www.mountainpridemedia.org/oitm/issues/2004/04apr2004/editorial.htm Kitty Genovese: Reclaiming Herstory] (about the disclosure that she was a lesbian)
* [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft8v19p2pw&brand=eschol A. M. Rosenthal, "Thirty-Eight Witnesses"] (Online version)
* [http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:GTc-i3WFw0MJ:www.middlesexcc.edu/library/images/kitty.pdf+rasenberger+genovese&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=6 Jim Rasenberger, "Kitty 40 Years Later,"] The New York Times (8 February 2004) (On the Middlesex County College Web Site)
* [http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=216045 "Kitty Genovese, Revised" The Wilson Quarterly (Winter 2007)]
* [http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/current_issue/keltnermarsh.html We Are All Bystanders] Greater Good Magazine article examines the bystander effect and Genovese's death.
* [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7195328 Find a Grave] Kitty Genovese on Find a Grave