ABC’s “Primetime” raises awareness on “bum-bashing” through street experiment.

Your commute from work is going just as it would any other day when you notice a group of teenagers, with bats, bottles, and chains, hovering around a homeless individual.  As you walk closer, you notice the gathering of adolescents verbally abusing and striking the vulnerable adult.  What would you do?

That question has become the basis of a new ABC show that captures public reactions to ethical dilemmas.  In their most recent episode, aired on March 4, 2008, hired actors simulated physical and verbal abuse towards a homeless individual on the streets of New Jersey.  Hidden cameras captured the responses of local residents.

In the first experiment, teenagers convincingly staged an attack on a homeless man. 

Within moments of beginning the experiment, ABC cameras captured a variety of reactions. Some pedestrians stared in shock.  Some walked off to enlist help.  Others quickly mobilized and challenged the dehumanization of a member of their society.   

“What are you doing?  Put that bat down. That’s a human being.” A middle-aged woman shouted at the teens participating in the experiment. Another elderly man reached for the bat and scolded the young boys for their lack of respect.

In another convincing simulation, the homeless man was replaced by a homeless woman.  The change in the victim’s gender yielded faster responses from community members.  Spectators were quicker to risk their personal safety and resort to physical intervention.  In comparison to the male victim, additional community members followed-up with the homeless woman with concerns of well-being.    

After being informed of the experiment, many of those that were pro-active in stopping the abuse communicated a sense of communal justice and basic human right as their rationale for action. To watch post-experimental interviews and behind the scenes footage, visit http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/WhatWouldYouDo. 

Despite the broadcast of this communal justice in action, many homeless individuals continue to fall victim to unprovoked and violent attacks from other members of society, particularly male teenagers.  According to Mary Brosnahan, the executive director of New York’s Coalition for the Homeless, many individuals have gone beyond viewing people without homes as homeless, but as subhuman.  The result has been a promotion of sports and activities that incite violence against a demographic that lacks a shelter for protection.  

The latest statistics from the National Coalition for the Homeless confirm this culture of violence.  In 2006, 143 assaults against homeless individuals were reported.  Of those, twenty were fatal. Those numbers are expected to rise in their 2007 report on hate crimes against the homeless due out mid-March.