Crime and Punishment / 1888
Crime and Punishment: Police Techniques
The Ripper case shows Victorian policing in transition: active, organised, but still short of modern forensic science.
What To Remember
- Police relied on beat patrols, witnesses, searches, sketches, post-mortems and public notices.
- Mary Jane Kelly's room was photographed, but photography was still not routine.
- No DNA, CCTV or modern fingerprint system existed to identify the killer.
Recording evidence
Police recorded statements, made notes, drew sketches and sometimes used photographs.
Before the Ripper murders, photography was not a routine crime-scene tool.
Mary Jane Kelly's body and room were photographed, which is a strong example of developing police methods.
Medical evidence
Doctors carried out post-mortems to describe wounds, estimate time of death and consider whether the killer had anatomical knowledge.
Body temperature could suggest how recently a victim had died, but it was not precise.
The workbook notes Elizabeth Stride's face was still warm, supporting the idea that the killer may have been interrupted.
Limits of technology
Police considered bloodhounds and shared information through letters and notices, but these methods were slow and uncertain.
Fingerprinting and DNA were not available, and handwritten records made thousands of statements hard to compare.
For judgement questions, argue that police effort was real, but technique lagged behind the demands of a serial murder investigation.
Revision Prompt
How did Victorian police techniques help and limit the Ripper investigation?