Sylvia Likens was 16 years old when she died on October 26, 1965. Her death was not just a fast painless death, it was long and torturous. Sylvia’s death could have been easily prevented and stopped many times. Many people knew what was going on in the house she was boarding in, yet they did nothing. This situation is a phenomenon known as Bystander Effect. Bystander Effect is when individuals that are involved in a situation do nothing to help the victim. To put it in simplest form, they stand by and watch whatever happens to the victim. Sylvia’s parents were Betty and Lester Likens. She was one out of five children. Her two oldest siblings, Diana and Daniel, were fraternal twins and her two younger siblings, Jenny and Benny, were also fraternal
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Shortly before Sylvia died, Gertrude began to engrave the words “I’m a prostitute and proud of it!” into Sylvia’s stomach with a needle which was heated by Marie Baniszewski (“Gertrude Baniszewski- The Indiana Torture Murder”). Richard Hobbs had to finish the job when Gertrude was unable to do so. Richard and Shirley then burned the number “3” into her chest (“Gertrude Baniszewski- The Indiana Torture Murder”). A few days before her own death, Sylvia tried to escape, but she was caught by Baniszewski. As punishment, she was tied up in the basement and was given only crackers to eat. After being locked in the basement for two days, she died on October 26, 1965. Stephanie sent Richard to call the police at a nearby payphone (Stall). Like I stated earlier in the paper this horrible death could have been prevented. SEP Fallacy is another psychological effect in which members involved in an issue choose to dissociate themselves from the problem and tell themselves that it is somebody else’s problem to fix. This death is an example of SEP Fallacy taking place in a real life situation.
When the police arrived at the house, Gertrude gave them a letter that she forced Sylvia to write. The letter was to her parents. It said that she agreed to have sexual relationships with a group of boys in exchange for money. The boys supposedly took her away in their car, beat her up, burned her many times, and
Shortly before Sylvia died, Gertrude began to engrave the words “I’m a prostitute and proud of it!” into Sylvia’s stomach with a needle which was heated by Marie Baniszewski (“Gertrude Baniszewski- The Indiana Torture Murder”). Richard Hobbs had to finish the job when Gertrude was unable to do so. Richard and Shirley then burned the number “3” into her chest (“Gertrude Baniszewski- The Indiana Torture Murder”). A few days before her own death, Sylvia tried to escape, but she was caught by Baniszewski. As punishment, she was tied up in the basement and was given only crackers to eat. After being locked in the basement for two days, she died on October 26, 1965. Stephanie sent Richard to call the police at a nearby payphone (Stall). Like I stated earlier in the paper this horrible death could have been prevented. SEP Fallacy is another psychological effect in which members involved in an issue choose to dissociate themselves from the problem and tell themselves that it is somebody else’s problem to fix. This death is an example of SEP Fallacy taking place in a real life situation.
When the police arrived at the house, Gertrude gave them a letter that she forced Sylvia to write. The letter was to her parents. It said that she agreed to have sexual relationships with a group of boys in exchange for money. The boys supposedly took her away in their car, beat her up, burned her many times, and