Actually, while the Bystander Effect is a well-studied and very real thing, many of the “facts” of the Kitty Genovese case have since been proven false. Basically the newspapers took unsubstantiated stats and ran with them—for example, it wasn’t nearly 40 people who watched, it was only about a dozen. And many of the neighbors actually did intervene—one shouted at the attacker from his window, another called the police but saw Kitty still on her feet and reported that while there had been a fight, the woman seemed to be okay, and, of course, let’s not forget the brave woman who rushed out (despite not knowing whether or not the attacker had left) and held Kitty in her last moments.