Jack the Ripper caught?

[Rider]

What if he were caught in the act during the murder of Mary Jane Kelly (or just afterwards), for instance? Would he still be remembered today to some extent due to the severity and gruesomeness of the crimes, as well as the letters and all other aspects of the case; or would he be largely forgotten as just another criminal of the period? What sort of impact would it have on methods of detection in policing in the years to come?

Any possible wider social impacts on Whitechapel or East London generally?

 

[Alienspacebats]

What If reveal it actually Jill the Ripper theories and supposedly male killer reveal to be female...

I mean afterall we don't definite evidence who it is

 

[Clayware]

What if he were caught in the act during the murder of Mary Jane Kelly (or just afterwards), for instance? Would he still be remembered today to some extent due to the severity and gruesomeness of the crimes, as well as the letters and all other aspects of the case; or would he be largely forgotten as just another criminal of the period?

Then possibly the other murders attributed to him after the five may not have happened. I believe he would still be remembered for his crimes due to the viciousness and brutality unleashed upon his victims but I believe he would not be remembered as more than a particularly savage serial killer by the public anyway.

What sort of impact would it have on methods of detection in policing in the years to come?

For the police if the three letters considered most likely to have been sent by him to the police were discovered in his apartment this might lead the police to try to suppress the knowledge about the deaths suspected to be done by a serial killer to reduce public panic and not encourage the killer. And if he talks and actually explains his motives the police might try to using him as a sort of template for other serial killers going forward.

This could cause the Jack the Ripper case to more studied by law enforcement even though the case might not be remembered as well by the public.

 

[The Professor]

What If reveal it actually Jill the Ripper theories and supposedly male killer reveal to be female...

I mean afterall we don't definite evidence who it is

No but applying modern forensics to the reports we can be reasonably sure it's a man at least around his 30s with surgical knowledge.

If the Ripper is caught it might not change much. There were a lot of murders of women at the time and arguments still continue today over which ones are Ripper's. It's certainly possible the killer is rejected as The Ripper, found guilty of his murders, and the other murders are still linked as the work of Jack!

 

[Armored Diplomacy]

I think he'd probably be forgotten by now. Do you know the name Amelia Dyer by any chance? She was much worse. If the theories that it was some bigshot or royal are true, then of course it would be remembered, and it would be slightly more remembered if it was a female serial killer (they exist but one stalking her victims in the night and butchering them with a knife would be rather spectacular), and it would be extensively covered in the press at the time. Of course, these theories all but certainly aren't true. The nature of the murders suggests a common workman. I'm personally convinced it was Charles Allen Lechmere, but even if it was someone else, they'd almost certainly be a nobody who'd end up being almost forgotten by history. Other such murders took place during that time period which aren't well-remembered today.

 

[LordTerra]

Then we probably wouldnt know who Jack The Ripper was today for the most part.

Jack didn't have the largest kill count and wasn't the most brutal killer of the time period. It was the fact that he wasn't caught and the notes helped to build a mythos around him that helped root him into national consciousness.

Depending how which theory on his identity was correct it will be shrugged off as another loon or a scandal if he's a noble. Likely some other, more notorious killer will replace him as the most prominent that period of history.

 

[Lalli]

We know whole case only because it remained as unsolved and attracted people, authors and movie makers of next generations. So if he would be caught he would be pretty forgotten by now. Only some crime historians would be intrested about him.

What If reveal it actually Jill the Ripper theories and supposedly male killer reveal to be female...

I mean afterall we don't definite evidence who it is

I doubt strongly that murderer was woman. Women hadn't surgical knowledge what Jack the Ripper had in thsese days.

But big impact it would has if it would had found out that it was Jew or royal.

 

[Armored Diplomacy]

I doubt strongly that murderer was woman. Women hadn't surgical knowledge what Jack the Ripper had in thsese days.

But big impact it would has if it would had found out that it was Jew or royal.

I don't think Jack the Ripper had surgical knowledge. Perhaps some anatomical knowledge from working in butchery. Even the police surgeon who examined one of the bodies concluded that the perpetrator had to have had a good deal of anatomical knowledge, but even he concluded that this could have been obtained by cutting up animals. A doctor who assisted in the post mortem countered that it wasn't someone with great anatomical skill, and Dr. Thomas Bond, the police surgeon who wrote a report on the canonical murders said that the perpetrator didn't even have the skill of a butcher or horse slaughterer.

 

[9 Fanged Hummingbird]

I think he'd probably be forgotten by now. Do you know the name Amelia Dyer by any chance? She was much worse. If the theories that it was some bigshot or royal are true, then of course it would be remembered, and it would be slightly more remembered if it was a female serial killer (they exist but one stalking her victims in the night and butchering them with a knife would be rather spectacular), and it would be extensively covered in the press at the time. Of course, these theories all but certainly aren't true. The nature of the murders suggests a common workman. I'm personally convinced it was Charles Allen Lechmere, but even if it was someone else, they'd almost certainly be a nobody who'd end up being almost forgotten by history. Other such murders took place during that time period which aren't well-remembered today.

Then we probably wouldnt know who Jack The Ripper was today for the most part.

Jack didn't have the largest kill count and wasn't the most brutal killer of the time period. It was the fact that he wasn't caught and the notes helped to build a mythos around him that helped root him into national consciousness.

Depending how which theory on his identity was correct it will be shrugged off as another loon or a scandal if he's a noble. Likely some other, more notorious killer will replace him as the most prominent that period of history.

I don't think it would be that obscure. Certainly it won't have the modern notoriety what with the lingering mystery and all, but the sheer brutality of the murders as well as the media spectacle it spawned at the time would probably make Jack the Ripper still a relatively well-known figure as far as Victorian Era murderers go. People haven't forgotten HH Holmes and his Murder Hotel for example. Also, if my personal theory is correct the case might retain some curious notoriety in that the killer was also tangentially connected to the murder of Abraham Lincoln for having an employee who was in on the conspiracy, although Francis Tumblety was probably innocent of that case even if he was IMO probably the real Jack the Ripper.

 

[Armored Diplomacy]

I don't think it would be that obscure. Certainly it won't have the modern notoriety what with the lingering mystery and all, but the sheer brutality of the murders as well as the media spectacle it spawned at the time would probably make Jack the Ripper still a relatively well-known figure as far as Victorian Era murderers go. People haven't forgotten HH Holmes and his Murder Hotel for example. Also, if my personal theory is correct the case might retain some curious notoriety in that the killer was also tangentially connected to the murder of Abraham Lincoln for having an employee who was in on the conspiracy, although Francis Tumblety was probably innocent of that case even if he was IMO probably the real Jack the Ripper.

HH Holmes was so prolific his victim toll is thought to possibly reach up to 200, plus it was the elaborate way he did it, IE going to the trouble of setting up an entire frigging hotel to carry out his scheme. He might not have faded completely into obscurity, but his fame would be nowhere near to the level it is now.

Also, I very much doubt that Tumblety had anything to do with it. As said before, I think it was Charles Lechmere, but one thing is pretty clear: the murderer was almost certainly a local workman.

 

[Byzantion]

What if he were caught in the act during the murder of Mary Jane Kelly (or just afterwards), for instance? Would he still be remembered today to some extent due to the severity and gruesomeness of the crimes, as well as the letters and all other aspects of the case; or would he be largely forgotten as just another criminal of the period? What sort of impact would it have on methods of detection in policing in the years to come?

Any possible wider social impacts on Whitechapel or East London generally?

International headlines would have been the result, if he finally had been caught in the 20th Century.