Valeria Alarcon Blog Post 1

1.Darley and Latane's "diffusion of responsibility effect" in the Kitty Genovese case is about a maniac murdering a woman coming home from work at 3 a.m. with 38 of her neighbors watching outside their window. None of these witnesses did anything about this crisis and it is something that is in need of change for our society. Even if one of the witnesses defined the event as an emergency, the presence of the other bystanders may still make him less likely to intervene. He feels that his responsibility if is diffused and diluted. As I was doing research, I found a similar case from the newspaper in which bystanders were involved and did nothing. At Richmond Highschool in California, a girl was gang raped by 10 males in a dimly lighted back alley at the school, while another 10 people watched without calling 911 to report it. Police attempted to try to arrest the witnesses, but they did not have the authority to due to the law. I personally believe all those witnesses should have been arrested, because they were just as involved as the rapers were. Just like in any other crimes, it doesn't matter if you didn't do it; you were still there with them.

Here is a video talking about the crime:

Sources:

"Police: People Watched Gang Rape Of Teen And Did Nothing To Help." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 10 Mar. 2010.

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"Police: As Many as 20 Present at Gang Rape outside School Dance - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 11 Mar. 2010.

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3. Families and schools or communities or religious organizations should find a way to encourage children to act rather than withdraw when confronted by someone in difficulty. Ways to fix this problem are by teaching them that bullying is wrong. Bullying is one of the main violence acts for young children and most of these children don't do anything about it. According to research, strategies include implementing a schoolwide antibullying policy, increased supervision, and teacher in-service training to raise the awareness of children and school staff regarding bullying. Also, teachers should establishing classroom rules against bullying, holding regular class meetings to discuss bullying at school, and scheduling meetings with all parents. Students who bully should admit to the behavior and acknowledge it as being hurtful. A student who bullies can ask for help just like the targeted student or accept help from an adult whom they trust and begin to explore more respectful methods of expression and for gaining power and prestige at school. The bystander should also recognize that he/she must choose to be either a part of the problem or a part of the solution. Hurtful actions can deliberately affect the targeted person, witnesses to the humiliation, and the entire campus climate.

Source: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/ss/se/bullyfaq.asp