Assignment: Victim Characteristics and Profiling

Jack the Ripper

Kimberlee Levett

Instructor: Brent Paterline

Walden University

August 7, 2021

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Victim Population of Jack The Ripper

Five women are thought to have been murdered by a single man known as Jack the

Ripper. Jack the Ripper was said to have had eleven victims, but only five are confirmed. The

first of the five victims are Mary Ann Nichols. Mary Ann was born in 1845 in London. She and

her husband had five children before divorcing in 1881 for unspecified reasons. Mary Ann

worked in workhouses and as a maidservant after they divorced, but neither job lasted long. To

make ends meet, she eventually turned to prostitution. Mary Ann lived in public lodgings and

was known to be arrested for drunkness and disorderly conduct.

The next known victim of Jack the Ripper was Annie Chapman. Annie was born Eliza

Ann Smith in London around 1840. In 1869, she married John Chapman, and they had three

children. Due to excessive drinking, the marriage eventually fell apart, and Annie moved to

Whitechapel. Crochet work and flower sales supplemented her income, which was supplemented

by occasional prostitution. Like Mary Ann, Annie was known to drink excessively and lived in

public lodging. People report that Dark Annie" was a hostile person and often got involved in

physical altercations with other women. Violent behavior from Annie was especially true when

she drank (Holmes and Holmes, 2009).

The third victim of Jack the Ripper was Elizabeth Stride. Elizabeth Gustafsdotter was

born in the Swedish town of Torslanda in the year 1843. Elizabeth turned to prostitution after a

failed marriage and was repeatedly apprehended by police. She supported herself by sewing,

housecleaning, and prostitution during their on-again, off-again relationship. Elizabeth was not

well educated, drank heavily, and lived in public lodgings. Gustafsdotter was the only victim that

body was not brutally mutilated because many believe his efforts were interrupted.

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The fourth victim of Jack the Ripper is Catherine Eddowes. Catherine Eddowes, born in

1942, moved around England a few times before settling in London with her boyfriend, Thomas

Conway, and their three children. By 1880, she had abandoned her family, taken to drinking, and

was sharing a lodging house with a new partner. Catherine worked odd jobs to supplement her

income and turned to casual prostitution to fund her alcohol addiction. Catherine had a great deal

of facial and body mutilation. I speculate the excessive mutilation was because he was not able

to finish the job with Elizabeth Stride.

The last victim known as the Canonical Five was Mary Jane Kelly. Kelly was born in

Limerick, Ireland, one of several children born into a middle-class family of John and Catherine

Kelly. At 16, she married for the first time and is thought to have had one child from this

marriage (Holmes and Holmes, 2009). Mary moved to London in 1884 after her husband died

and found work in a brothel. Mary was also known to drink and was three months pregnant at the

time of her murder. She is the only known victim of Jack the Ripper killed inside.

Suspected Personality of Jack the Ripper

Based on the information On Jack the Ripper, I would suspect that a woman physically

abused him during his youth. Some researchers believe that severe childhood abuse,

compounded by additional neglect in school and ineffective social services, is a recipe for

developing a violent deviant personality, frequently associated with social imitation via vicarious

conditioning (Pakhomou, 2004). Another factor that could explain Jack the Ripper's actions is

that prostitutes are easy prey. Prostitutes usually willingly get into cars and drive to a secluded

location with Johns. The Canonical Five were all known to drink excessive alcohol, which made

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them easier to control. The serial killer's careful selection of vulnerable victims demonstrates that

they have the street smarts to choose victims who will not resist, will be relatively easy to

control, and will go unnoticed. Such careful selection protects the killer from identification and

apprehension (Egger and Egger, 2004).

Similarities Among the Crime Scenes

Jack the Ripper murdered at least five women, all prostitutes, in or near the Whitechapel

district of London's East End between August and November 1888. At the time of their deaths,

all the victims were living in public lodging, mostly middle-aged, and wore black bonnets. Jack

the Ripper's preferred weapon was a sharp blade, which he used to mutilate the bodies of his

victims. The assailant was skilled with a knife and had a thorough understanding of human

anatomy, speculating that he was a doctor, nurse, or butcher. The victims were killed outside in a

public area as if the killer wanted victims to be found quickly, all except Mary Kelly. The

victim's bodies were all posed and disemboweled except for Elizabeth Stride. The killer took

various organs from the victims and cut their throats. The murder of Catherine Eddowes was

particularly brutal with numerous cuts on her face and abdomen. The lower left eyelid and the

upper right eyelid were both cut. The tip of the nose was cut off due to a deep cut in the nasal

bone. Another cut was discovered on the mouth at a right angle, as well as a triangular cut about

an inch and a half long on each side of the cheek (Holmes and Holmes, 2009).

The information I gather about Jack the Ripper based on the similarities in how he

mutilated and disposed of the victims' bodies is that he is knowledgeable of the human anatomy,

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had a type of victim, and chose a public location to kill and dispose of the bodies. The crime

scenes were a gruesome spectacle, and the brutalized bodies were physically distorted. The killer

took the organs of his victims as trophies. Choosing to murder the victims outside in a public

area shows that the killer likely wanted to humiliate them further. Prostitution was a way of life

for the women to support themselves after their failed relationship. Often serial killers pick

prostitutes as their victims because they feel they are relieving society of unclean women.

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References

Eggers, S., & Egger, K. (2004). Victims of serial killers: the "less dead." In Victimology:

A Study of Crime Victims and their Roles (pp. 9-32). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Custom

Publishing. Retrieved from

http://wps.pearsoncustom.com/wps/media/objects/9450/9676891/CJ371_Ch01.pdf

Holmes, R. M., & Holmes, S. T. (2009). Profiling Violent Crimes: An Investigative Tool

(4th Edition). SAGE Publications, Inc

Pakhomou, S. M., 2004. Serial Killers: Offender’s Relationship to the Victim and

Selected Demographics. International Journal of Police Science and Management. 6 (4), 219-233

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