Misguided help

Good Samaritan laws wrong answer

Would you ignore terrified pleas and watch a person being brutally knifed to death without trying to help? Its horrifying to imagine that people could be that apathetic to a crisis, but that's exactly what happened just after 3 a.m. in Queens, New York City, on March 13, 1964. According to the police report, Catherine "Kitty" Genovese was stabbed to death over a period of 35 minutes - with 38 people watching the cruelty. By the time a neighbor finally called the police - who arrived within two minutes - it was too late for Genovese who had died just inside the front door of a nearby apartment as she was trying to escape.

What does this infamous case have to do with us in Ann Arbor? After all, the Kitty Genovese murder took place 30 years ago and hundreds of miles away. The issue has recently leapt into the forefront of Michigan news with a tragic murder strikingly similar to that of Genovese.

Kevin Heisinger was beaten to death in the restroom of a Kalamazoo bus station after attending orientation at the University's School of Social Work. Five people were within earshot of the attack and heard Heisinger's pleas for help but did not notify the authorities. One man found him unconscious and another saw Heisinger lying in a pool of blood. Both simply walked away. It took a nine-year-old boy to notify authorities at the terminal.

In spite of the public outrage, no legal action was brought against the bystanders to the murder. Currently, there is no federal law requiring citizens to render aid, however a number of states have passed various forms of Good Samaritan laws that prosecutors can use to take action against witnesses who fail to report a serious assault.

This debacle has prompted two state legislators, Dale Shugars (R-Portage) and Jerry Vander Roest (R-Galesburg) to draft legislation that would require people witnessing someone gravely injured to immediately call the police. This type of Good Samaritan law has already been passed in California and Minnesota.

In fact, Michigan already has two "Good Samaritan" laws which grant immunity from civil damages to medical personnel at an emergency site and require certain professionals to report abuse or neglect of seniors or children. According to a report in the Kalamazoo Gazette, this new measure is being introduced in Michigan because: "Senator Shugars was very upset at the lack of compassion to an individual who was being physically abused and ended up being murdered."

Although the public and politicians are understandably appalled at the Heisinger murder, creating a law to coerce citizens into action isn't the answer.

The reason people often don't get involved in violent crimes that they witness is because of reasonable fears of being harmed themselves, a reaction that is result of basic human psychology that cannot be legislated away. As much as we may want people to jump to the aid of those in danger, requiring people to behave contrary to their normal human instincts in dangerous situations is unwarranted and unlikely to be effective in any case.

At the trial of Winston Mosely, Kitty Genovese's killer, her sister Susan Wakeman said, "We don't blame the people who were there that night and might have heard her crying. Only one person killed my sister."

And anyone in Heisinger's shoes would have wanted someone to get involved, but legislating behavior will not be effective and is not the answer.