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How did 'Jack the Ripper' escape the police? - Coggle Diagram
How did 'Jack the Ripper' escape the police?
Whitechapel and its Citizens
Crime was extremely widespread, and most would steal off the richer people who lived there. This meant that a crime was viewed as a common occurrence, and not viewed as a tragedy like it is today.
Whitechapel was very underdeveloped, so there were almost no streetlights, making the city pitch-black at night. Even if a figure was seen, it would have been very difficult to identify him/her.
Most of the population lived in poverty, making them very desperate for money and essentials such as food, water, etc. The citizens of Whitechapel had their own problems to deal with, which meant they did not care much about the murders and did not have an incentive to try to stop the string of homicides.
Women were dehumanized and treated like second-class citizens in 1888. This told us that a woman's death would be treated like less of a tragedy that a man's death. The public would be less invested in finding the killer of a woman who was ALSO a prostitute than the killer of a man.
Unemployed women had no social security, so many became prostitutes to increase their cash flow. However, since the job was so physically and mentally tolling, lots turned to alcohol to escape and became alcoholics.
Police
Even though there would have been usable forensic evidence, the technology to analyze it would not be widely usable until at least 20 years later. They were limited by the technology of their time.
The police force also used methods that today have been disproven such as clairvoyance and forensic optography.
There were two police forces operating on this case: The City of London Police Force and the Metropolitan Police Force. The separation between the forces would have made the investigation less efficient.
There was sewage running openly in the streets and beneath people's feet. There was a layer of sewage above the ground, covering it. Any trail that 'Jack' had left behind while leaving would have been long gone within an hour as sewage ran and covered it.
Most evidence that the police found and was usable were from humans. This is unreliable, as humans will not be able to remember facts correctly or be bribed to not say the truth.
Witness Accounts
Witnesses would not have seen the murderer clearly, as most murders happened in the dark of the night. This could have led to false descriptions and statements.
Witnesses could have been perpetrator(s) in disguise, trying to fool the police by feeding them false statements. This is a very effective way of covering her tracks.
Differences between statements would have given the police too much information, as most facts contradicted another. This led to multiple red herrings and difficulty in choosing which information could help them catch 'Jack'.
The police offered incentives for witness statements. As we know, the common people were desperate for money. This could have led to the population feeding the police with false information just to get the rewards.