As a general rule, we don't discuss "true crime" stories very much here, but when it comes to classics, the horrifying story of Kitty Genovese remains an important landmark in criminal history.
For those too young to remember it, Kitty Genovese was the young New York City woman assaulted and murdered in a 1964 attack that lasted more than a half hour, while 38 witnesses saw all or part of the attack and did nothing - didn't even call for help.
It shocked a city that thought it couldn't be shocked and prompted debates about the chilling lessons to be drawn from the case. And it was the subject of a first-rate book, Thirty-Eight Witnesses: The Kitty Genovese Case
Les - The Kitty Genovese story is a chilling reminder of a not-at-all pleasant side of human nature. In an odd coincidence, my own blog post today takes up the topic of witnesses who see a crime and don't step in. Some of those cases are just like the Genovese case: people who could have helped didn't and deserve their share of blame. Others though aren't so simple. FYI (and I don't usually toot my own blog horn, but the topics are too eerily similar for me not to mention it), my post will go up at 3pm EST today.
Posted by: Margot Kinberg | December 06, 2012 at 01:22 PM
Margot, you are most welcome to toot your own blog horn - my readers will find your blog, "Confessions of a Mystery Novelist," in my blogroll on the lower right side of the page and at http://margotkinberg.wordpress.com . A lot of mysteries have been based on the Kitty Genovese story and there are many variations - cases where, as you indicate, the lines have more blurs. It's a fascinating story.
Posted by: Les Blatt | December 06, 2012 at 01:42 PM
I do remember this horrific case, Les. I was a young woman living and working in NYC when Kitty Genovese was murdered. I think this was a kind of watershed moment for New Yorkers who ordinarly think of themselves as 'good joes' ready to help and incapable of shock.
I sincerely hope those 38 people who stood by and did nothing have been haunted by their cowardice for all these many years. I hope it haunts them until the end of their days. It's what they deserve.
Posted by: Yvette | December 06, 2012 at 02:18 PM
Yvette, I like to think I would have reacted differently - maybe, at the very least, pick up the phone and call the cops, which might well have made a difference. It's a shocking story.
Posted by: Les Blatt | December 06, 2012 at 03:17 PM
I have heard many times since then that it was not true that the people did nothing. That many of them tried to help or call for help. I am going to try to find the source of this alternate idea.
Posted by: Patti Abbott | December 06, 2012 at 09:02 PM
http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-03-13/news/29139732_1_winston-moseley-genovese-murder-kitty-genovese
This article notes that at least two people called the police. I think there is an even more compelling piece I read somewhere.
Posted by: Patti Abbott | December 06, 2012 at 09:06 PM
Not an e-reader yet Les, but thanks very much for th einfo. Harlan Ellison wrote a terrific short story inspired by the event, 'The Wimper of Whipped Dogs'.
Posted by: Sergio (Tipping My Fedora) | December 07, 2012 at 05:35 AM
I was twelve when this happened and, like most people who read about it, couldn't understand how no one tried to help her. I live in a large city now and if I looked out the window every time someone yelled or screamed, usually drunks or morons having public verbal fights, I'd never sleep. I have called the police several times. On the other hand, when I lived in another city, I heard a woman yelling for help, grabbed the phone and called the police, and when I looked out the window, a half dozen of my neighbors had run outside with baseball bats, fireplace pokers, etc., and held the man until the police arrived. Made me feel safer and proud that my neighbors weren't 'do nothings'.
Posted by: Joan Kyler | December 07, 2012 at 08:23 AM
Patti, that's interesting, and it puts a different face on the story. I know the neighborhood pretty well - it's quiet and residential and pretty solidly middle class. Where's the truth? I don't know. Thanks for bringing that Daily News article to light.
Posted by: Les Blatt | December 07, 2012 at 01:57 PM
Sergio, I haven't read that Ellison story - I'll have to dig it up. Thanks!
Posted by: Les Blatt | December 07, 2012 at 01:58 PM
Joan, I'd like to think I'd do the same. But I can't be sure of it - I don't think any of us really knows how we would react until we find ourselves caught up in such an event. We are hard-wired for self-preservation, and that's quite an obstacle to "heroics."
Posted by: Les Blatt | December 07, 2012 at 02:00 PM