“It’s none of my business;” “I wasn’t sure what was going on;” “I thought someone else was going to help;” “I didn’t want to get involved;” “I don’t want to be a target;” “I was scared;” “I don’t know”- These, plus many more, are all excuses given as to why bystanders did not choose to intervene in a crime they witnessed. The assistance could have been as simple as calling law enforcement. A crime could have been prevented, or a life could have been saved, but it wasn’t. Martin Gansberg’s “38 Who Saw Murder Didn’t Call the Police” focused on the re-telling of actual events when a woman was murdered while no-one helped. It revealed the psychology of the bystander effect and the frustration of the police, while providing and eliciting emotion. …show more content…
The murder took place in the early hours of the morning, at her apartment building, over a “35-minute period” in which “the assailant had three chances to kill this woman” (Gansberg 25). Consequently, the closest action anyone took in assistance wasn’t until the, soon to be, brutally murdered woman screamed, “Oh, my God, he stabbed me! Please help me! Please help me!” to which an apartment window opened, and someone yelled, “Leave that girl alone!” (Gansberg 26). Because of the yell from the window, the killer walked away, only to return another time and have his efforts verbally thwarted by the victim shrieking after another stab wound; the lights in the apartments came on once more. Yet again, the killer left and returned, a third time, to complete his deranged task. After much debate and a phone call to a friend first, a bystander finally called the police; they arrived in two minutes only to find her dead. When law enforcement and medics occupied the scene, several residents decided to come out and see what they failed to intervene in. Police conducted their interviews, and they were flooded with the excuses as to why the individuals did not help. The justifications are commonplace within the bystander