◆ SpookStack

AO. ll . VICTIMOLOGY In each homicide, the victim was a prostitute with a reputation of drinking quite heavily. These two ingredients place the victim in a "high risk" category. By "high risk," we define this as someone who is very likely to be the victim of violent crime. From an investigative perspective, this makes it extremely difficult in reference to developing logical suspects. From a forensic viewpoint, if any evidence is obtained such as hairs and fibers, semen, etc., law enforcement would not know for certain if this evidence did in fact come from the subject. One hundred years ago, prostitution was not as organized as it is today, where we have pimps controlling, monitoring, and protecting their stables. During the "Jack the Ripper" era, women worked independently. A female prostitute who drank heavily was looking for trouble. We would suspect that there were numerous instances of these women being physically assaulted, raped, and ripped off. Prostitutes 100 years ago did not dress differently than other women at that time. In most cases, they performed their "services" in dark alleys or in "flop" houses. The prostitutes targeted by Jack the Ripper were nearly twice the age of prostitutes soliciting today. They were not particularly attractive and other than their age, there were no striking Similarities between them. (It is noted that the last victim was 25.) The "Jack the Ripper" victims were targeted because they were readily accessible. Jack the Ripper did not have to initiate the contact. This was done for him by the prostitute. This is an important feature in a case such as this and will be addressed later on in this analysis under "Offender Traits and Characteristics." MEDICAL EXAMINATION As stated earlier, the medical examinations conducted at that time were not very thorough when compared to autopsy examinations conducted today by experienced forensic pathologists. However, even in some parts of the United States today, autopsy examinations are something less than desired. The primary areas noted in this analysis were as follows: 1. No evidence of sexual assault. 2. Subject killed victims swiftly.