5.3.2

Jack the Ripper

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Methods Used to Catch Jack the Ripper

It would be easy to assume that the police force of the 1880s lacked any technological equipment and thus did nothing to actually try and catch Jack the Ripper, but in reality that was not the case.

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Crime scene photography

  • Crime scene photography was in its infancy but the City of London police were keen to use this method.
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Sketches

  • Crime scene sketches were taken and added to other evidence from murder scenes.
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Autopsies

  • Autopsies were carried out of the Ripper victims.
  • Police surgeons were also used to construct ‘profiles’ of the killer in an attempt to identify possible suspects.
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Witness statements

  • Witness statements and interviews were also used to build evidence at the scenes of crime.
  • The main problem with this was the type of people that were being interviewed were not often all that reliable.

Jump to other topics

1Medieval England, 1000-1500

2Early Modern England, 1500-1700

318th & 19th Century Britain

4Modern Britain, 1900-Present

5Whitechapel Local Study

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