Submitted by Robin A. Albright, Aug 25, 2008 09:43

I was sad to read about the Ebony Garcia murder. It brings back discussions of general psychology and the Kitty Genovese story. For my classroom's purposes, it was 'shared responsibility'. That a group of people observing a violent crime or accident who do nothing share a group sense that 'one of the others is going to do it.' (i.e., call the police). Later, it was named 'The Genovese Syndrome' which offered that if anyone is in such a situation, would they be able to rely upon another or others to assist them? Neither case works since it's over 40 years later and someone still can't pick up the phone. Everyone is so much more educated, whether it's a seminar or the classroom--especially about how to act since, in general, lots of people appear to forget it. But those cellulars are always driving everyone crazy for every other reason. I believe that this young woman deserved that call and maybe a few of them.

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