10 Murder Trials That Shocked The World

5. Winston Moseley (1964) - He Murdered Kitty Genovese Right In Front Of 38 Witnesses... None Of Who Reacted

On Friday March 13, 1964, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was reportedly murdered in front of 38 people - all of who failed to call the police.

When details of this case became public during the trial and media reports, outrage and shock filtered around the planet. Human nature and psychology when witnessing a crime suddenly came to the very fore of public interest.

Winston Moseley viciously raped and stabbed bar manager Genovese in New York City - supposedly in front of 38 neighbours and passers-by, although these initial reports have been downplayed and it appears the number of witnesses could have been far less (but still substantial). A New York Times article, entitled "Thirty-Eight Who Saw Murder But Didn't Call The Police", written two weeks after the event became emblematic of general apathy towards crime in big cities.

Science-fiction author Harlan Ellison even published an article in 1971 which referred to the witnesses as "thirty-six (due to the contention in number) motherf****rs". As a result, "Kitty Genovese syndrome" or "bystander effect" has become a psychological syndrome that has since been studied.

This social-psychological phenomenon refers to cases in which witnesses do not offer help to the victim of a crime when other people are present because they expect someone else to do something - a problem which is magnified by the greater number of individuals present.

This famous case even led to a reform of the New York Police Department's telephone reporting system, as well as the introduction of various neighbourhood watch schemes in the area. Moseley was sentenced to death on June 15, 1964, for the murder and rape of Genovese, with judge Shapiro controversially stating "I don't believe in capital punishment, but when I see this monster, I wouldn't hesitate to pull the switch myself" - although this was later reduced to life imprisonment due to the fact he argued "medical insanity."

He escaped, however, and committed further crimes including kidnapping a woman and her daughter - and died in prison on March 28th, 2016, at the age of 81, having served 52 years of his sentence.