Jack The Ripper. The police failed in catching Jack the Ripper for a variety of reasons. At the time they were subject to many limitations, and although they tried everything in their power, many of their methods proved ineffective.

At the time the police were still unable to use forensic science, and therefore they either had to catch the suspect in the act or get him to confess, and this proved especially hard. The technology then was so poor that it was believed you could see the image of the murderer if you took a picture of the victim's eyes soon after death. Moreover, the police were not allowed to offer a reward by the Home Minister like they normally would have done, and this was an opportunity missed. Moreover, the police's work was made much more difficult by the nature of the victims and the unreliability of the witnesses.

All of the victims were poor prostitutes who were plying their trade in Whitechapel, and all of them were alcoholics with the exception of Annie Chapman, although she was a heavy drinker as well. The victims did not have many friends, and in general did not have much contact with family, and as they were chosen at random, there was no link between the victim and the Ripper for the police to investigate. To compound this, there were rarely any witnesses, and those witnesses that came forward were largely unreliable and gave contradicting accounts, which made it even harder for the police. To make it worse, the police constantly had to deal with false starts and red herrings.

The first major false start was the investigation of the 'Leather Apron', after the murder of Mary Ann Nicholls. Their ensuing arrest of a man nicknamed 'Leather Apron' was a failure when he was able to provide alibis for all of the murders. Moreover due to the anti-Semitic feelings in Whitechapel at the time, police received hundreds of false accusations against Jewish people which they had to follow up as they had to be seen following up all leads. This cost them valuable time and resources. Moreover, as the Press started receiving letters from people claiming to be the Ripper, they delayed sending them to the police, causing the police to miss their best chance of catching the Ripper after the Dear Boss Letters were sent. The Press reporting of the police investigation also led to the detectives being constantly changed as no progress was made. This further hindered the police, along with the racist and biased illustrations published, which worried the police as they feared riots.

In conclusion, I think the most important reason that the police did not catch the Ripper was because of the limitations they had to cope with. Today I believe the Ripper would easily be caught using forensic evidence, however police in 1888 did not have this asset, and their methods although enthusiastic really had no effect. The other reasons I have given in this essay also had a considerable negative effect on their chances. Although the Ripper was not caught, I believe that this was an important experience for the police as it was the first of its kind, and I believe this was a key step in the police's progress to what it is today.

SG 11A Cand No. - X Centre No. - X