1879 1884
Number of detectives 216 294
Number of arrests 13,128 18, 344
A substantial difference was made. By this time police had learnt the value of footprints, from then no considerable progress was made. Progress in Forensics however, was made. Fingerprinting and photography were both put into tuition in 1901-1902.
As the above evidence demonstrates, the police force were having difficulty establishing themselves, going through much disappointment and stumbling on many problems. Although the amount of detective work was rising, London still had fewer detectives than other major cities. This shows that London police forces were relatively inexperienced with murder cases, the police were used mostly to keep order in the streets, utilising officers on the beat. For this reason, Jack the Ripper and other criminals would have found it relatively easy to commit felony without consequence.
Why did the Whitechapel Murders attract so much attention in 1888?
Between the years 1888 and 1891, eleven murders took place in a poor area of London, England named Whitechapel. All of which at some point in time have been accepted as Ripper induced deaths. Now only six of the deaths are now thought to be The Ripper’s work (This is illustrated in the table below). In the next four paragraphs of this essay I intend to establish why the Whitechapel murders became so infamous. I will include all of the reasons that I consider important for the murder’s reputation. I will then conclude this area of the essay with a list stating the importance of each factor and why.
The Unaware Society
The People of England had never before been subjected to crime of this sort, neither serial murder nor sexual assault of this nature were established felonies in the eyes of the late nineteenth century public. Although I say this, history has hosted plenty of sex offenders and sexual killers. The Harp Brothers killing rampage in 1798 is a good example, they killed many. Women, animals and children were killed in large quantities in repulsive ways. Another example of pre-Ripper sex-crime against children is Countess Bathory, who bathed in the blood of approximately 650 young girls during the sixteenth century. The Ripper murders did revolutionise the age of sex related crime; they were the first cases of sex crime that we see regularly today. The publics’ morbid curiosity initiated vast interest in the Ripper killings. The brutality utilised by The Ripper furthered the interest of many. The murders coincided with a growing interest in literacy; this meant that newspapers circulated faster and more widely than ever before.
The Nature Of Crimes
This mystery murderer has ascended to fame through the brutish reputation gained by the nature of his crimes. His crimes were increasingly violent as his reputation grew; this suggests that he craved the attention of the citizens of London. One coroner reported “The body has not been dissected, but the injuries have been made by someone who had considerable anatomical knowledge and skill.” This and other such reports suggested that The Ripper was a high class and possibly, prominent member of London society. This further interested Whitechapel and the rest of the country. By the time of the final murders, the serial killings had been brought to the attention of the Canadian and American press due to the extraordinary violence and unusual techniques used.
The Apparent Lack Of Motive
No typical motive for such crimes could be seen. Due to the area and the chosen victims it was apparent that no economic gain was being pursued. It was obvious that he had no jealousy or sexual desire towards the women that were victimised, they were all described as very unattractive females (as demonstrated in the portraits below). It is common knowledge that 80% of all murders are committed by connected persons; the killer had no genetic or social connection to the women. This man was obviously a sexual deviant, requiring more than just intercourse to reach sexual fulfilment. Although it is now apparent that the murderer harboured a deep psychological condition that triggered rage towards women, this apparent lack of motive interested the relatively psychologically ignorant public of the time.
(L-R): Mary Ann Nicholls, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catharine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly.
Press Attention
The main reason that Jack The Ripper became so infamous is because of the letters received by the correspondence, almost all of which claimed to be the Ripper. Many of the letters were proven forgeries. But a few are still considered credible; the “Dear Boss”, “From Hell” letters and the “Saucy Jacky” postcard all give a powerful insight into the Ripper’s disturbed mind. Lines such as “I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping” from the “Dear Boss” letter display a psychotic notion, in this letter he mentions that he “loves his work” again suggesting that derived vast sexual pleasure from the killings. The press reacted to the letters by public announcing them and publishing them throughout Britain; normally a murder in Whitechapel would not gain any coverage but the ferocity of the Ripper murders worried the public and The Police too such an extent that it was hard not too give the murders attention. The disturbing nature of the letters furthered the publics’ interest and coupled with his elusive nature and almost mocking of the police gave people insight into the insecurities of the force, of course this engrossed them.
As the above four paragraphs show, there are many reasons for the amount of attention the murders incited. It was no surprise that murders achieved such high status. The killer seemed to be above the law, the citizens were baffled by the concept of serial murder (brought about by the rising of newspaper manufacturing) and the press only accentuated this morbid curiosity. I believe the order of importance in answering this question is:
- The nature of Crimes and the Apparent Lack of Motive
- Press Attention
- The Unaware Society
Although it was difficult to decide, I chose this order because all of the extensive newspaper and literacy coverage of the felonies was breeded from the ferocity of the crimes, the public interest was a direct result of this and simply amplified the Ripper’s wrath. It is possible to say that the “unaware society” was the least credible reason because even in todays less ignorant society, the Ripper murders are still deemed astonishing and perverse. Although the press attention probably gained the most attention, it was fuelled because of the nature of the crimes and continued because of public interest, it acted as a catalyst, so to speak. Therefore, I deem the factor that originally provoked the attention, most important.
Why were the police unable to catch Jack The Ripper?
In the following section of this essay I will attempt to establish why the police force of 1888 was unable to detain the murderer, Jack the Ripper. I believe there is one main reason for this- the ignorance of the police at this time. This reason however, has many tangents to explore, these are:
Failure to Decipher Evidence
Inadequate Police Resources
Following All Leads, and
Press Intervention
The other reason for the police’s inability to detain The Ripper was because of the nature in which he committed the crimes. I will delve on before mentioned items to aid my answer. At the end of this section, I will explain and arrange the main factors in an appropriate style.
Police Ignorance
In 1888, nobody in Whitechapel, or in Britain as a whole, had any idea of what they were dealing with when Polly Nicholls was murdered. The police were unaware that they were dealing with a serial killer, and, in any case, would not have known what a serial killer was. I will now split this topic sentence into four sections as follows:
Failure to Decipher Evidence
Inadequate Police Resources
Following All Leads
Press Intervention
Failure to Decipher Evidence Correctly:
After two murders the police became desperate, most of their lines of inquiry had amounted to nothing and they were no closer to catching “The Ripper”. Their desperation was shown in the production of a handbill distributed to around 80,000 houses. The handbill was extremely ineffective for three reasons. Although authorities had created a profile of the killer, they were unwilling to offer it in the handbill. They were still inquiring about members of Whitechapel’s community and they still appealed for information about suspicious looking persons, despite all the evidence about Jack the Ripper and the victims he selected. Their detective work was very shallow and appeared to avoid many obvious facts:
- Previous inquiries were all extremely ineffective.
- There was evidence that “The Ripper” did not reside in the Whitechapel area. All the killings were on weekends; suggesting Jack held a job and travelled to Whitechapel specifically to kill.
- More evidence that he did not live in Whitechapel was that nobody had spotted and excused the real murderer despite the community’s closeness.
- Police profiling suggested that he was most probably a respectable looking character (no struggle was made by the victims before their death), possibly a businessman. But still they requested “suspicious characters” to be looked for.
Inadequate Police Resources
At the time, roughly, one hundred and twenty years ago, the policing in Britain was reasonably undeveloped. Even under the reign of the “Bobbies” the country’s knowledge in policing crime of this nature- murder, particularly seemingly unmotivated murder- was relatively modest. This lack of crime-fighting technique is apparent from the previous section in the essay -The Modernisation of the Force, P1. Queen Victoria voiced what was a common reaction at the time when she told the prime minister that it was a “absolute necessity for some very decided action…detectives improved”. I have researched the ways in which Victorian policing worked. Although blood typing and DNA analysing was not yet implied, what forensic advances that had been made were used to time the death (by measuring temperature) proved useful, disproving evidence in court. In 1888 and surrounding years, there still remained the common belief that a photograph of the victim’s eyes would reveal the killer in them.
From the evidence it is quite obvious that very little crime-fighting prestige had been developed as yet. This is an important reason for the police’s inability to detain the villain.
Following All Leads
Because the Police were inexperienced in handling serial murder they followed all of the possible leads. This wasted a lot of time and limited the number of officers on the beat and performing other tasks. The murders suggested someone with experience of dissecting bodies. But, they chose not to investigate doctors, instead they followed up slaughterers and suspicious looking characters (Jew’s were not trusted) as their initial line of inquiry. Many were arrested but when trailed, cleared. They looked specifically into a character known as “Leather Apron”, a Jewish Slipper maker. The Star quoted “His expression is sinister, and seems to be full of terror for the women who describe it. “Leather Apron”- John Pizer was arrested but released after a long enquiry that wasted a lot of police time.
Although the police did take into account that The Ripper had medical knowledge, they did not interpret this well. This suggested that the killer might not be a local man. The police increased the patrols in Whitechapel and did not introduce any type of investigation outside Whitechapel.
Press Intervention
Much of the Police’s time wasting was as a result of press attention to the murder. Some of the newspapers publicised the story of “Leather Apron” and this virtually forced the police to investigate him (due to public support). The times picked up a report by Elizabeth Long which said stated that she saw Annie Chapman conversing with a “foreigner” just before her death this appeared to tie into place. Leather Apron was said to be Jewish, this was not helpful as far as investigating the appropriate leads. The police starting following this false lead and investigated foreigners and Jews. The Times quite rightly suggested that “All the police can hope is that some accidental circumstance will lead to a trace which may be followed to a successful conclusion.” The public outcry that the article caused resulted in the Police having to up the “Jack the Ripper” investigations. Again, this wasted police resources and time and if anything lead the Police further from catching the Ripper by beat officers.
Obviously the police were not to blame entirely for the sustained freedom of the Ripper. He was also very deceptive in his ways, leaving little or no trace of his actions. I will now explain the other factors for the police’s incapability to catch the serial killer.
Lack of Motive and No Obvious Pattern of Occurrence-
All obvious evidence suggested that the cold blooded, sexual psychopath struck at random. He worked so quickly and skilfully that his victims had no opportunity to aggress towards the Ripper. As an 1888 edition of the times states “The murders, so cunningly continued, are carried out with a complete ruthlessness which altogether baffles investigators… there is no purpose in the crime to afford the slightest clue.”
As I mentioned previously (assignment 1, part 2) more than 89% of murders are committed by persons known to the victims. The Ripper only selected his victims as a result of a chance meeting. Even today, murderers who work like this are extremely difficult to detain.
I would say that the most important reason for The Police’s inability to detain Jack The Ripper excluding the lack of motive and random pattern of occurrence was the Police’s failure to decipher evidence in the correct way. This really restricted the likelihood of catching The Ripper. It is impossible to catch a villain if you are searching in all the wrong places. In other words, this factor is unconditional, and makes the capture impossible (except by coincidence) whereas the other factors do not restrict to the same extent. In the case of motivated murder I would have said that the limited police resources would have been the most important factor, but because of the murders’ circumstances this factor is relatively ineffective, if not the least. I believe that “Lack of Motive and No Obvious Pattern of Occurrence” was the most important reason. Even in today’s society it is difficult to catch criminals that work in this way, the polices inhibitions simply added to this predicament. The order of importance I would organise these factors in to is as follows:
Lack of Motive and No Obvious Pattern of Occurrence
Failure to Decipher Evidence
Following All Leads- Press Intervention
Inadequate Police Resources
