Profile of Jack the Ripper
Victimology
The purpose of victimology is to place victims on a risk continuum from low to moderate to high. All of the Ripper's victims would be considered high-risk, in that they were all prostitutes with drinking problems who plied their trade in and around the same pubs and on the same streets of the crime-ridden Whitechapel area. All were around 40 years of age except the last victim, Mary Kelly, who was 24 at the time of her murder. Like numerous other serial killers, Jack the Ripper was motivated, at least in part, by a tortured sexual pathology. Therefore, prostitutes, who in effect represent pure sex, were logical targets. These street walkers were easily accessible victims of opportunity who had the misfortune of crossing paths with Jack the Ripper.
