The Bystander effect in action

The Bystander Effect in real life : The case of Catherine Genovese

The murder of Catherine Genovese is the most commonly cited example of the bystander effect. When Catherine was returning home from work on March 13th, 1964 she was attacked and stabbed by Winston Moseley. There were over a dozen people in the nearby apartment that heard her cries for help but did not call the police. The attack took place at 3:20 AM but nobody contacted the police until 3:50 AM. The murder became a national issue; so many people were outraged that nobody had interfered. Everyone assumed that someone else had already contacted the police or tried to help. There was later a lot of controversy whether the story was misrepresented in the media.