Was Jack the Ripper a Social Reformer? Essay

Jack the Ripper terrorized the streets of London of unknown reasons. With his ability to disappear he was impossible to track, therefore making him one of the most interesting and clever criminals known to man. In 1888, five prostitutes were brutally murdered within a tiny area of the East End of London. The killings rapidly occurred over an 11- week period but they have both haunted and fascinated people for over a hundred years. (Jakubowski 16)

Jack the Ripper was one of the most famous and renowned killers in history. Even though he was not the first serial killer, he was the first killer to strike on a metropolis setting. Jack the Ripper was in his prime at a time when the media had a strong control over society and society as a whole was becoming much more literate. Jack started his killing campaign at a time of political controversy between the liberals and social reformers along with the Irish Home rule partisans. The reports of Jack the Ripper were collected and reported by the police, but then the different newspapers with their political influences slightly distorted the stories to give them their own effect. It has been more the one hundred years since the last murder

Thesis Statement: A research paper of the mysterious and famous 19th century serial killer Jack the Ripper and how it is that the legend came to be.

Despite the fact that no-one was ever brought to justice or charged with the murders, there have been more than a hundred named suspects who may or may not have been Jack the Ripper. Aaron Kosminski, Thomas Cutbush and Montague Druitt are some of the interesting suspects, whereas Prince Albert Edward Victor, the Freemasons, and Lewis Carroll are some of the ridiculous

The Whitechapel Murders and those of Jack the Ripper are not generally one and the same. Over a period of three years towards the end of the nineteenth century a number of prostitutes were murdered under different circumstances – the murder of prostitutes was not an especially unique occurrence during those times but several of the murders drew particular attention on account of the savagery with which the victim's bodies were mutilated. Within the Whitechapel Murders was a cluster of murders that demonstrated sufficient similarities as to suggest that they were committed by the same person. One of the first instances of serial murder was thus identified and sensationalised in the media as the work of ‘Jack the Ripper', nicknamed on the

The police were unable to catch Jack the Ripper for many reasons however one important factor was the mistakes of the police force. At the time of the Ripper case many people seemed to not come forward with information if they had any due to police mistakes such as lack of reward. The police committed various mistakes such as dressing as prostitutes due to the fact that the Ripper had studied his victims, which gave the police no luck in catching the killer. The police however did many foolish mistakes as one would call by believing false stories from the public and press which contributed to letting Jack the Ripper escape. The police did many other mistakes in addition to a lack of rewards and listen to the public as well as dress as prostitutes, they also Didn’t assign much police officers in the area of

victims out in the open. He wanted to be known, he wanted to be famous. Over time they lost

The cartoonists are the main social group portrayed in the cartoon “On Satire” by Joe Sacco, which is published in The Guardian. “On Satire” portrays other cartoonists as obnoxious, insensitive cavemen who often cross the line between satire and just outright offensive mockery of the religious beliefs of Muslims. The purpose of the cartoon is to ridicule the black and white way of representation of all Muslims as terrorists. Also he is aiming to get cartoonists to convince governments and news outlets to consider ways in which to stop terrorism by understanding why terrorism exists instead of just eradicating all Muslims and hoping that terrorism dies with them.

While the murders that this infamous serial killer caused are well known, the real identity of "Jack the Ripper" remains unknown-128 years later. The murders occurred in in the late 1880's, in London, England. This masked killer terrorized the city for a little over a month, killing at least five prostitutes. The mutilation of the women was disturbing, but the accuracy was more sinister. This was someone who knew the anatomy of a human body.

Through Buck’s Row at 3:50am August 31, 1888, Charles Cross and Robert Paul found a woman lying on the nearby pavement. Frightened, they found a police constable to report their discovery (Newton 15). Generally, It was rare for homicides to happen in East End, let alone multiple killings which made the Ripper so famous (“The Hunt for Jack the Ripper” 10). As a matter of fact, it was proven that f“He struck only in the early hours of the morning and on the weekends… he was able to keep late hours without arousing suspicion” (“How Jack the Ripper Worked” 1). In fact, it was said that “ the butchery was so precise that police officers believed that the Ripper must have had special anatomical knowledge and might have been a doctor or a butcher” (Illustration Depicting Jack the Ripper Attacking a Woman 101).

Even his He committed these crimes in 1888 which made people shocked. He picked female prostitutes as his victims and killed them at night when no one was around. He was also famous because there were not many clues to lead the police to find the killer. This made suspects ranged from woman to doctor. The police did a lot of attempts and changes in order to catch Jack the Ripper.

“MASKED KILLER ON THE LOOSE” is what every Newspaper headline read in 1888 in London. Jack The Ripper was Aaron Kosminski and to back this up I have circumstantial, testimonial, and forensic evidence. The background of Jack is that he was an unnamed murderer who viciously murdered prostitutes in whitechapel, london. He also sent notes to journalists and news organizations to almost tease the police into finding him, which they never did.

Despite many Western countries having strong law systems and firm roots in Christianity, it might seem peculiar to think they also are obsessed with murder. From Nancy Drew to the TV shows Murder, She Wrote and How to Get Away With Murder, murder and crime investigation have become bestsellers in Western societies. There is just something intriguing about a good “whodunnit” crime, a good mystery that cannot be solved or explained, regardless of how many people and years have been spent speculating on it. In England, one of the most popular unexplained homicide cases is none other than the infamous 1888 murders of Jack the Ripper. While the killer was never found and convicted of the murders, several conspiracy theories have emerged over the years concerning Jack the Ripper’s identity and the motive behind the gruesome slayings.

Why is Jack the Ripper seen as one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers of all time? Evidence suggest that he simply could have been a scapegoat for the overcrowded parish of Whitechapel which had vast amounts of crime including burglary and high levels of alcohol dependency which lead to many brothels opening and the number of prostitutes in Whitechapel rising dramatically. So was Jack the Ripper even a real serial killer? Or does theory explain that his murders could have been cover ups put in place to create a moral panic to reduce the number of working prostitutes as they had become scared of being murdered. If Jack the Ripper was not a scapegoat the New Right would argue that it is likely he made a rational calculation of the consequences of his crimes and carried them out because the benefit to society was greater than the cost to him, the New Right would have blamed Jack the Rippers criminal activities on poor socialisation from his family. Postmodernist authors Levin and McDevitt would argue he was a criminal but he only committed these crimes because he needed variation from his daily routine and killing the prostitutes was giving him the thrills and excitement that he needed in his life. A combination of all these different arguments and possible explanations creates debates that draw me into the study of Sociology and Criminology.

To this day, Jack the Ripper is still infamously recognised as the brutal murderer of at least 5 victims. With such great attention by the media, he was able to cause a dramatic fright to the civilians and have his name voiced throughout Victorian England. Even today, many scholars are seduced by the prospect of uncovering identity of the man behind one of the most infamous whodunits in history.