Editing Bystander effect (section)

===South African murder trials===
In an effort to make [[South Africa]]n courts more just in their convictions, the concept of ''[[extenuating circumstances]]'' came into being.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Colman | first1 = A.M. | year = 1991 | title = Crowd psychology in South African murder trials | journal = American Psychologist | volume = 46 | issue = 10| pages = 1071–1079 | doi=10.1037/0003-066x.46.10.1071| pmid = 1746773 | hdl = 2381/467 | url = https://figshare.com/articles/journal_contribution/10076180 | hdl-access = free }}</ref> However, no concrete definition of extenuating circumstances was ever made. The South African courts began using the testimony of expert social psychologists to define what extenuating circumstances would mean in the [[justice]] system. Examples include: [[deindividuation]], bystander apathy, and [[conformity]].

In the case of ''S. vs. Sibisi and Others (1989)'' eight members of the [[South African Railways and Harbours Union]] were involved in the murder of four workers who chose not to join in the SARHWU strike. Psychologists Scott Fraser and Andrew Colman presented evidence for the defense using research from [[social psychology]].
[[Social anthropologist]] Boet Kotzé provided evidence for the defense as well. He testified that [[African cultures]] are characterized by a [[collective consciousness]]. Kotzé testified that the collective conscious contributed to the defendants' willingness to act with the group rather than act as individuals. Fraser and Colman stated that ''bystander apathy,'' [[deindividuation]], [[conformity]] and [[group polarization]] were extenuating factors in the killing of the four strike breakers. They explained that deindividuation may affect group members' ability to realize that they are still accountable for their individual actions even when with a group. They also used research on bystander apathy by Latané and Darley to illustrate why four of the eight defendants watched as the other four defendants killed four men. The testimonies of Fraser and Colman helped four of the defendants escape the death penalty.{{citation needed|date=June 2020}}