Kitty Genovese

Women and Crime

Cloud10

Science, Society & Culture, True Crime, Social Sciences

4.6 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 12 August 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ep 266: A woman’s tragic murder in 1964 became a case study in human psychology and urban life that is still discussed today This is the Kitty Genovese story. Sources for Today's Episode: • NY Times • NY Daily News • The New Yorker • Psychology Today • PBS • The book: Kitty Genovese: The Murder, the Bystanders, the Crime that Changed America by Kevin Cook • The Washington Post Sponsors: (thanks for using our promo codes, it really does help the show!) Cash App - For a limited time only, new Cash App customers can use our exclusive code to earn some additional cash. Just download Cash App, use our exclusive referral code FAMILY10 in your profile, send $5 to a friend within 14 days, and you’ll get $10 dropped right into your account. Terms apply. That’s Money. That’s Cash App. Download Cash App Today: https://cash.app As a Cash App partner, I may earn a commission when you sign up for a Cash App account. Cash App is a financial services platform, not a bank. Banking services provided by Cash App’s bank partner(s). Prepaid debit cards issued by Sutton Bank, Member FDIC. Visit cash.app/legal/podcast for full disclosures. Shopify - Turn your big business idea into CHA CHING - with Shopify on your side. Sign up for your one-dollar-per-month trial and start selling today at shopify.com/crimewomen Credits: • Written and Hosted by Amy Shlosberg and Meghan Sacks • Produced by James Varga • Audio Editor, Jose Alfonso • Script Editor, Abagail Belcastro • Music by Dessert Media Get Even More Women&Crime Episodes: • Patreon - Ad-free shows starting at $2 a month, or upgrade for $5 a month to get a new extra episode every month, as well as exclusive virtual HappyHours with Meg & Amy. Check-out other tiers for perks such as lectures, true crime book club, and more! Visit our Patreon page for more info: https://www.patreon.com/womenandcrime • Apple Subscriptions - Exclusive episodes and ad-free regular stories are now available through Apple’s podcast app for only $4.99 a month, or save with an annual membership. • YouTube Memberships - Exclusive episode available on YouTube for only $4.99 a month. https://www.youtube.com/@WomenandCrime/membership Help is Available: If you or someone you know is in a crisis situation, or a victim of domestic, or other violence, there are many organizations that can offer support or help you in your specific situation. For direct links to these organizations please visit https://womenandcrimepodcast.com/resources/ Keywords: bystander effect, apathy, big city Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	A woman's tragic murder in 1964 became a case study in human psychology and urban life that is still discussed today.
0:10.1	This is the Kitty Genevieve's story.
0:26.8	Wow. Wow, you're doing it.
0:27.8	I am.
0:31.6	You know I read a book about this case like four years ago and I was going to do it.
0:32.7	And I don't know why it didn't.
0:33.2	Do you remember?
0:42.8	I feel like sometimes when you read a memoir too or get excited about a case and start researching, you find other ones and then go, oh, like maybe I'll do this and I'll come back to it.
0:54.9	You put that on. You actually tend to start a lot of cases. So like you probably have a number of cases going and then you come back to them. Like I start one and I only focus. I can't like do that. Yeah. actually, you're correct. That's exactly what happened. You want to hear something very ironic? As I was finishing this episode, we got an email from a listener, Sarah, asking us to cover this case. Get out. Yeah. And it was funny because I was literally writing the episode and, you know, like, get bored, so I'll like look at my emails.
1:16.0	And then I was like, oh my God. So Sarah is a psychology student and she says that she wasn't taught the full story. And honestly, I was not taught the full story either because what I thought I knew
1:22.2	about this case was grossly inaccurate. Get out. What you know is probably what I know.
1:27.1	All right. Maybe. And I would bet many of our
1:29.1	listeners had had a similar experience. So I'm totally excited to set the record straight.
1:34.3	Wow. I've even taught about this case in my class and I used some of the misinformation I realized.
1:40.6	Wow. Okay. I can't. I'm like, all right. I'm in. Yeah. So basically, we're covering a story today that it was so chilling and it was a murder in New York City that shocked the nation. But it wasn't just the crime itself that made headlines, if you recall. It was what happened or rather what didn't happen surrounding it. Yes. So we're going to explore the headlines, the psychology, and really look into what has made
2:06.7	this case so historic.
2:08.2	And it was the catalyst for something pretty big as well.
2:11.4	Yes.
2:11.9	Oh, I'm so excited.
2:12.8	Okay, great.
2:13.8	All right.
2:14.1	So let's go ahead and get into it and let's meet Kitty.
	...

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