Jack The Ripper Thesis

Jack the Ripper
“One day men will look back and say I gave birth to the twentieth century.” Jack the Ripper’s goal was to terrify the city and receive attention from the whole world. Not only did he achieve that, he indirectly affected police by forcing them to use new techniques and change the way they investigated crime scenes. Even though the Ripper’s murders were vicious and gruesome, they brought attention to the fact there needed to be a more effective way of investigation.
During the reign of Queen Victoria, Great Britain was a wealthy empire with a very conservative society. However, there was poverty in London’s East End. Thousands of people lacked permanent homes. People slept on the streets or in workhouses. A workhouse allowed

people to work in exchange for food and a place to sleep. Reformers used the Ripper’s murders to expose degradation of the East End. They were hoping to bring social reform to London. Due to everyone being so conservative, people believed that the victims got what they deserved. However, most women did not chose prostitution as their lifestyle. They were driven to it by their harsh conditions of life (Anderson 19).
Mary Ann Nicholas is considered to be Jack the Ripper’s first victim.

She was found early one morning lying near the side of the road. Her throat had been cut from ear-to-ear. Not long after this, the body of Annie Chapman was found. The cut in her neck was so deep it almost severed her head. Three weeks passed with no signs from the Ripper, but on September 27, 1888, a letter arrived that was supposedly from the killer himself. He stated that they would soon hear from him again and he would claim another life. There were many doubts that it was a sincere letter, but three days later he struck. Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were the unlucky victims. Elizabeth had been cut at the neck, but unlike any of the other victims, the Ripper was unable to attack her abdomen. Police assumed he had been interrupted somehow. The Rippers last victim was Mary Kelly. She was much younger and prettier than any of the other victims. The Ripper had taken his time to mutilate her entire body. Her hair and eyes were the only things recognizable left. Police described this as the “work of the devil” (Anderson 7). He mutilated his victim’s bodies in a way that indicated he had some knowledge of the human anatomy. He acted during the early morning, outside so there is no other way he could have been as precise and fast as he was if he was unaware of the human body

(Biography).
During this era police had never seen seen anything like this. The Ripper had no motive in his killings, so they were confused. Criminology had to evolve drastically to investigate these murders (Legacy). Jack the Ripper was the first serial killer to receive public attention. At the time, deaths of working girls were rarely reported. However, Jack the Ripper’s murders stood out more than any of the others because his victims were mutilated, and he humiliated females (Biography). Newspapers printed exaggerated articles about the murders. These stories spread internationally to places like Italy and Argentina. Police displayed posters around the area to alert people of what was happening (Casebook). There was not much police could do at the time to convict someone of these murders. They could only trust eyewitnesses or catch the killer in the act. Although there wasn’t much they police could do about finding the killer, they had many suspects. There have been more than 170 people named as suspects (Legacy). At the time, ethnic prejudice majorily influenced the search. Jewish refugees were targeted because they dressed and spoke differently. They also questioned many medical students who had a history of mental illness. However, it seemed like whatever they tried only led to a dead end. The public and press said the police were hopeless (Anderson 32).