The Bystander Effect commonly refers to incidents where a crime has occurred but people fail to report it because they were in a group or a community so they assumed that someone else would step in and do something, so they wouldn't bother with it themselves. The problem with this mindset is that if everyone in the group assumes the same thing then no action of any sort is taken.
The murder of Catherine "Kitty" Genovese is one of the most notorious examples of the bystander effect. Genovese had been attacked while walking at night, she had screamed to the people in the nearby buildings which scared her attacker off initially. However, the people in the apartments failed to act since they assumed that someone else would call the police. As a result, her attacker returned and killed her.
A few days ago another incident of the bystander effect took place, this time in Richmond, CA with a young girl being assaulted by a several people while a group of bystanders watched but failed to act. Some explained to police that Richmond was the type of place where you don't call the cops for fear of retaliation, while others assumed the cops had been called.
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/11/03/they-bystander-effect/#more-58913
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/28/gang-rape-raises-questions-about-bystander-effect/
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