"Genovese syndrome"
A decidedly atypical woman for those years due to her independent lifestyle, Kitty Genovese lived in New York far from her family with a partner with whom she lived.
On March 13, 1964, Kitty finished work late and returned home by car, around three in the morning. When she got out of the car, she found herself faced by a man, Winston Moseley, who chased her and stabbed her twice with a knife before running away following the screams of a witness who, however, did not intervene directly.
Free from her attacker, Kitty, wounded and limping, tried to run away toward home: the neighbors who saw her dragging herself along the street thought she was drunk or very tired and did not take an interest in her. When she realized that she would not be able to reach her home due to her wounds, Genovese, chased by Moseley who had gone back specifically to look for her and finish her off, took refuge in the entrance hall of a building. She asked for help again, also because she knew the residents of the building well, but once again no one came.
When Moseley managed to find her, he raped her and stabbed her again.
Only after the crime was committed did a tenant of the building come down the stairs and try to help her, then calling an ambulance, but Kitty's injuries were serious and the woman died on the way to the hospital. Five days after the murder, Winston Moseley was arrested.
The Genovese case only aroused interest thanks to the investigation of an investigative journalist who published a much-discussed article in the New York Times: it reported that 38 people had witnessed a terrible murder and had not called the police or emergency services.
This terrible murder generated a series of social psychology studies on what had been called the "bystander effect" or "Genovese syndrome", that is, the phenomenon that refers to cases in which individuals do not offer any means of help to a victim when other people are present. The Genovese case became the symbol of the apathy and indifference of life in big cities. Continue reading

Comments
Post a Comment