3 Real-Life Crime Cases That The 'Bystander Effect' Played A Part In

There's no harm in trying to do the right thing. Here's what can happen when people stand idly by.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D. | June 26, 2024

Trigger Warning: This article examines cases of violence, kidnapping and murder, which some readers may find distressing.

Have you ever seen someone drop something in public, but resisted the urge to help them pick it up, thinking, "There are plenty of people around. Someone else will step in"? Or perhaps you've driven past a hitchhiker, telling yourself that another driver will stop to offer assistance? This phenomenon—known as the "bystander effect"—can seem relatively harmless in such situations. A dropped pencil or a stranded traveler might not suffer much from our inaction.

However, the bystander effect can have devastating consequences in more serious circumstances. When people fail to act in critical situations, the results can be tragic. Here's why this happens, and how the bystander effect has impacted real-life crimes in shocking ways.

What Is The "Bystander Effect"?

According to a 2011 study from the Psychological Bulletin, the bystander effect is a social psychological phenomenon where individuals are less likely to help a victim when other people are present. Simply put, the presence of other people leads us to think that we have less responsibility to help the person in question. In turn, each person assumes someone else will take action—and often, this results in nobody actually stepping in to help at all. This inaction is influenced by several key mechanisms:

• Diffusion of responsibility. When multiple bystanders are present, the sense of personal responsibility is diluted. Each individual believes that someone else will step in, reducing their own sense of urgency to act. This shared diffusion generally leads to overall inaction from bystanders, in that no one takes on the responsibility.
• Evaluation apprehension. People often fear being judged by others if they intervene in a situation—especially if they are uncertain about what is happening or how to help. This fear of embarrassment or making a mistake can prevent individuals from stepping forward, even when help is desperately needed.
• Pluralistic ignorance. In ambiguous situations, individuals tend to look to others for cues on how to behave. But, if no one else is acting, each person assumes that their own inaction is justified—believing that others possess more information. This mutual inaction creates a feedback loop, where everyone assumes that no action is necessary because no one else is acting.

Real-Life Cases Of The Bystander Effect

While failing to help someone experiencing a slight inconvenience isn't the end of the world, the stakes are much higher in other scenarios. In some cases, the bystander effect can mean the difference between life and death for the victim. Each of the following cases was profoundly influenced by the bystander effect—and the victims might have survived if someone had taken action.

1. The murder of James Bulger (1993). This harrowing case involved the youngest convicted murderers in British history. James Bulger, a two-year-old boy, was abducted from a shopping center in Bootle, Merseyside, by ten-year-olds Robert Thompson and Jon Venables. Despite being seen by 38 people as he was led away, visibly distressed and injured, only two individuals questioned the boys—and not one of them contacted the authorities. Ultimately, Thompson and Venables committed unspeakable acts against James and left him to succumb to his injuries while pinned to a train track.
2. The death of Wang Yue (2011). A two-year-old girl named Wang Yue was struck by two vehicles in a hit-and-run incident in Guangdong, China. Surveillance footage showed that 18 people walked by without helping the severely injured child. Eventually, a street cleaner moved her to the side of the road and called for help, but Wang Yue later died from her injuries. The incident sparked widespread outrage and a national discussion on moral responsibility and public duty.
3. The murder of Junko Furuta (1988). Lastly, and most chillingly, Junko Furuta—a 17-year-old Japanese girl—was kidnapped, tortured in heinous ways, and ultimately murdered by a group of teenage boys. She was held captive for over 40 days, during which time she endured unimaginable suffering. Despite being held in a house in a residential area, neighbors heard her screams and pleas for help but did not alert the authorities. Moreover, Junko was held captive in one of the perpetrator's parents' houses—who also did not contact the authorities upon both hearing and witnessing the heinous acts their son and his friends committed.

How To Counter The Bystander Effect

A July 2012 study from the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology found that, in some cases, the presence of other bystanders can actually increase the likelihood of someone helping—but only when self-awareness becomes salient. The authors discovered that when participants knew they were on camera or when their names were known to others, they were less likely to succumb to the bystander effect.

Although you can't always bank on fellow bystanders knowing your name, or having a camera to hold you accountable, there are other ways to increase your self-awareness in situations where someone needs help:

1. Acknowledge and resist the urge to not help. If you find yourself thinking, "I don't need to worry; someone else will step in," stop yourself in your tracks. Take a moment to consider that everyone else around you is likely thinking the same thing—decreasing the likelihood of anyone actually doing the right thing. By consciously acknowledging this common thought pattern, you can break free from it and take the initiative to offer help.
2. Take the risk of being wrong, judged or embarrassed. If you aren't certain that a person needs help, there is still no harm in asking, "Hey, are you okay? Do you need help? Should I call someone?" If they say no, you can rest assured that you still took the most helpful course of action—even if other bystanders think you were being senseless. And if they say yes, then you have the opportunity to do a great service for someone else. However, if you don't take the risk at all, you face something even greater: living with the fact that you could have done something, but chose not to.

Are you a bystander in most critical situations of your life? Take the Emotional Quotient Inventory to gauge your level of emotional intelligence and awareness.

A similar version of this article can also be found on Forbes.com, here.