Jack the Ripper Essay

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Criminal Justice

Jack the Ripper

By today's measures of what is wrong, Jack the Ripper would hardly make the news, killing a meager five prostitutes in a massive slum brimming with bad people. He would be seen as just one more brutal bad guy fulfilling his distorted needs on the scum of society. So why do people still talk about it today - for the reason that Jack the Ripper symbolizes the characteristic whodunit. Not only is the instance a continuing unanswered ambiguity that expert and layperson sleuths have tried to resolve for many years, but the tale has a frightening, almost paranormal superiority to it. He comes from out of the mist, murders aggressively and rapidly, and vanishes without a trace. Then, for no obvious explanation, he gratifies his blood lust with mounting fierceness, concluding in the near annihilation of his last victim, and then disappears forever (Bardsley, n.d.).

"Jack the Ripper is the popular name given to a serial killer who killed a number of prostitutes in the East End of London in 1888. The name originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the killer published at the time of the murders" (Barbee, n.d.).

The murders occurred inside a mile region and concerned the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate, and the City of London proper. Jack the Ripper was not the first serial murderer, but he was almost certainly the first to emerge in a large metropolis at a time when the universal population had become learned and the press was a power for social change. The Ripper also emerged when there were incredible political disorder and both the liberals and social reformers, as well as the Irish Home rule members attempted to utilize the crimes for their own means (Barbee, n.d.).

The press was also partially responsible for producing a lot of legends surrounding the Ripper and ended up revolving a sad killer of women into a bogey man, who has now become one of the most romantic figures in history. The rest of the accountability lies with the Ripper. He might have been a sexual serial killer of a kind all too widespread, but he was also bent on frightening a city and making the entire world become aware of him by leaving his dreadfully maimed victims in plain sight.

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The Ripper was never captured and it is the ambiguities surrounding this killer that both add to the romance of the story and generating a cerebral mystery that many still want to crack (Barbee, n.d.).

It is vague just how many women the Ripper murdered. It is normally established that he killed five, although some have thought that he killed only four while others say seven or more. The public, press, and even a lot of police officers thought that the Ripper was accountable for nine killings. "The five that are generally accepted as the work of the Ripper are:

1. Mary Ann (Polly) Nichols murdered Friday, August 31, 1888.

2. Annie Chapman murdered Saturday, September 8, 1888.

3. Elizabeth Stride murdered Sunday, September 30, 1888.

4. Catharine Eddowes also murdered that same date.

5. Mary Jane (Marie Jeanette) Kelly murdered Friday, November 9, 1888" (Barbee, n.d.).

All of these women were prostitutes and were murdered between August and November 1888. There is no proof to propose that any of them knew each other and they were diverse in both age and looks. Most were intoxicated or thought to be intoxicated at the time they were murdered (Barbee, n.d.).

A complete perception of the Ripper's technique was not determined until recently. The belief is that the Whitechapel killer and his victim stood in front of each other. When she hoisted her skirts, the victim's hands were engaged and therefore she was vulnerable. The Ripper grabbed the women by their throats and strangled them until they passed out or were dead. "The autopsies continually exposed clear suggestions that the victims had been strangled. The Ripper then lowered his victims to the ground, their heads to his left. This has been confirmed by the location of the bodies in relation to walls and fences that show that there was almost no room for the murderer to assault the body from the left side. No bruising on the….....

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