”The bystander effect” or “diffusion of responsibility” refers to the phenomenon observed in the Kitty Genovese incident, when several bystanders were said to have left her screams for help un-acted-upon in the belief that it was not their business or that someone else would take necessary action to help.

Dear Majorityrights readers,

With sincere apologies I must announce that regarding our site contact email account, we’ve had something of a “bystander effect.”

That is to say, GW, Kumiko and I had all thought that another was taking care of the email and that it was their business.

As a result, we have left even significant input unattended for some time now.

However, you should finally be hearing from us in days to come.

Thank you for your attempt to contact us! And with apologies once again for the mix-up, on behalf of the other bystanders and to the victims of our oversight!

We’ll be talking to you soon..

Best Regards, DanielS, Majorityrights

Perpetrator

Winston Moseley (March 2, 1935 – March 28, 2016) was at the time a 29-year-old man from South Ozone Park, Queens;[21] he was apprehended by police during a house burglary six days after Genovese’s murder. At the time of his arrest, Moseley was working as a “Remington Rand tab operator”, had no prior criminal record, and was married with three children.[22]

While in custody, Moseley confessed to killing Genovese. He detailed the attack, corroborating the physical evidence at the scene. Moseley said he preferred to kill women because: “they were easier and didn’t fight back”. Moseley stated that he got up that night around 2 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.[23] He also confessed to murdering and sexually assaulting two other women and to committing “30 to 40” burglaries.[24] Subsequent psychiatric examinations suggested that Moseley was a necrophile.[25][26]

Moseley committed another series of crimes when he escaped from custody on March 18, 1968, for which he received two additional 15-year sentences. He died in prison in 2016,[6] having been one of the longest serving inmates in the New York State prison system.[27]

Trial

Moseley’s trial began on June 8, 1964, presided over by Judge J. Irwin Shapiro. Moseley initially pleaded not guilty, but his attorney later changed Moseley’s plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.[28] On June 11, Moseley’s attorney called him to testify in hopes that Moseley’s testimony would convince the jury that he was “a schizophrenic personality and legally insane”. During his testimony, Moseley described the events on the night he murdered Genovese, along with the two other murders to which he had confessed and numerous other burglaries and rapes. The jury deliberated for seven hours before returning a guilty verdict on June 11 around 10:30 p.m.[20]

On June 15, Moseley received the death sentence for the murder of Genovese. When the jury foreman read the sentence, Moseley showed no emotion, while some spectators applauded and others cheered. When calm had returned, Judge Shapiro added, “I don’t believe in capital punishment, but when I see a monster like this, I wouldn’t hesitate to pull the switch myself.”[29] 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, and the initial death sentence was reduced to lifetime imprisonment.[30]

Imprisonment and death

On March 18, 1968, Moseley escaped from custody while being transported back to prison from Meyer Memorial Hospital in Buffalo, New York, where he had undergone minor surgery for a self-inflicted injury.[31][32] Moseley hit the transporting correctional officer, stole his weapon, and then fled to a nearby vacant house owned by a Grand Island, New York, couple, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Kulaga. Moseley stayed at the residence undetected for three days. On March 21, the Kulagas went to check on the house, where they encountered Moseley. He held the couple hostage for more than an hour, during which he bound and gagged Matthew Kulaga and proceeded to rape Mrs. Kulaga. He then took the couple’s car and fled.[31][33] Moseley made his way to Grand Island where, on March 22, he broke into another house and took a woman and her daughter hostage. He held them hostage for two hours before releasing them unharmed. Moseley surrendered to police shortly thereafter.[34] He was later charged with escape and kidnapping, to which he pleaded guilty. Moseley was given two additional fifteen-year sentences concurrent with his life sentence.[35]

During the 1970s, Moseley participated in the Attica Prison riot,[36] and late in the decade obtained a Bachelor of Arts in sociology in prison from Niagara University.[37]

Moseley became eligible for parole in 1984. During his first parole hearing, Moseley told the parole board that the notoriety he faced due to his crimes made him a victim also, stating, “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.”[38] At the same hearing, Moseley claimed he never intended to kill Genovese and that he considered her murder to be a mugging because “[...] people do kill people when they mug them sometimes.” The board denied his request for parole.[39]

Moseley returned for a parole hearing on March 13, 2008, the 44th anniversary of Genovese’s murder. The previous week, Moseley had turned 73 years old, and had still shown little remorse for murdering Genovese.[38] Parole was denied.[40] Genovese’s brother Vincent was unaware of the 2008 hearing until he was contacted by New York Daily News reporters.[38] Vincent Genovese has reportedly never “recovered from the horror” of his sister’s murder.[38] “This brings back what happened to her”, Vincent had said; “the whole family remembers”.[38]

Moseley was denied parole an eighteenth time in November 2015. He died in prison on March 28, 2016, at the age of 81.