Kitty Genovese

Kitty Genovese was the oldest of five children, a 28-year-old daughter of working-class Italian-American parents. Her father owned a coat and apron supply business. Kitty was an attractive, outgoing woman, and graduated from Brooklyn's Prospect Heights High School in 1954. She moved to Queens, rented an apartment with a girlfriend, and worked as a manager at a local tavern. Kitty left work around 3 a. m.

on March 13, 1964. As she parked her car and walked the 20 feet to her apartment door, a man approached and began to stab her. Kitty screamed loudly, pleaded for help, and though apartment lights went on in nearby buildings, and neighbors peered out at the scene, no one notified the police. Her attack lasted over half an hour, during which time at least 38 neighborhood residents observed the assault but did nothing. Though Kitty tried to crawl away from her attacker, he pursued her, eventually stabbing her 17 times and taking $49 from her wallet. Not until 3:50 a. m. did one neighbor finally call the police. (Before he did, he called a friend. ) By the time police arrived, Kitty had bled to death. As the details of the killing emerged, it became plain that Kitty would probably have survived if she had received medical attention sooner. The murder made national headlines after dozens of witnesses were interviewed and said they declined to help because they thought it was a "lover's quarrel" and "didn't want to get involved. " One even coldly declared, "I was tired and went back to bed. " The brutal murder and the disturbing lack of action by her neighbors became emblematic in what many perceived as an evolving culture of violence and Apathy in the United States. While some saw the unwillingness to help as representative of the times, the Genovese murder sparked national debate about bystander Apathy and its psychological causes, particularly in urban settings. Forty years later, her name has become synonymous with a dark side of an urban character that, for many people, represents a harsh and disturbing reality of big city life. In fact, psychologists now dub unwillingness to help those in trouble "Kitty Genovese Syndrome. "The man arrested for the crime was a 29-year-old petty criminal who confessed to the murders of three women, including Kitty Genovese, as well as numerous burglaries and rapes. He chose his victims at random. Though the jury recommended the death penalty, his sentence was commuted to life in prison.