Jack the Ripper

• Conditions in 19th century London:

  cramped housing

  many lowest class (semi criminal) people

  lots of small alleys and streets

  confusing layout

  lots of crime

  lots of prostitutes

  division between rich and poor

  thick thick smog
• The metropolitan police were split into 20 divisions known by a letter of the alphabet. There were only 13 thousand police officers to take care of 5 million people in London. The metropolitan police force also had a detective force, the criminal investigative department (CID) with 294 detectives in 1883. Whitechapel was the H division of the Metropolitan police. There were only 15 CID detectives in Whitechapel.
• Reasons why he was never caught:

  thick smog

  lack of police

  police covered the same ground and did not work together

  a lot of crime meant that the police could not solely focus on Jack the Ripper

  when more police joined, all the murders had taken place

  his killings had no clear pattern (except women + prostitutes and too many to track them all)

  layout of Whitechapel

  Dear Boss and other letters
• Things the police tried:

  silent boots

  working together

  bloodhounds

  offering a pardon to anyone with info

  police dressed up as target women

  more police
• Jack the ripper was never found because he was very careful when killing his victims. He wore gloves and an apron to protect himself from getting blood on his clothes. He used a sharp knife to cut off body parts like kidneys and uterus. Afterwards, he threw the organs down drains and sewers. He also moved around a lot so it was difficult to trace him. Additionally, he sent letters to the police but they didn't give much information about him. Overall, it seems likely that he planned everything carefully and avoided leaving any clues behind.
• Police failed because they didn't have enough resources or manpower
• They couldn't cover every street at once so it would be impossible to catch him
• There wasn't any evidence left behind except for blood stains which wouldn't last long
• He killed his victims quickly and took their organs away
• This made it hard to find out who he was
• He wrote letters to the police but these weren't helpful either
• It is possible that he wanted to get caught


  But this isn't confirmed
• If he did want to get caught

  Then he probably knew how to avoid being seen
• The police failed due to lack of resources and manpower