[Speculative] How functional could Jack have been?

[JSchmidt]

I have been wondering: How functional could "Jack" have been during and after the murders?
Some killers, who have already been less functional in society before their killings, tend to have a psychological breakdown along with their killings, which severely impairs their ability to interact normally with their relatives, neighbours and ultimately every other person they meet.
Some others like the Zodiac seem to be able to keep the appearances up and even refrain from killing for longer periods of time.
The question which really interests me after looking at the timeline of the canonical 5 victims: Is this 3 week gap between the first two and the last 3 victims a sign of the former or the later behaviour?
Could he have gone back to live his normal life and surpressed his urges for that time?

[NOV9]

I have been wondering: How functional could "Jack" have been during and after the murders?
Some killers, who have already been less functional in society before their killings, tend to have a psychological breakdown along with their killings, which severely impairs their ability to interact normally with their relatives, neighbours and ultimately every other person they meet.
Some others like the Zodiac seem to be able to keep the appearances up and even refrain from killing for longer periods of time.
The question which really interests me after looking at the timeline of the canonical 5 victims: Is this 3 week gap between the first two and the last 3 victims a sign of the former or the later behaviour?
Could he have gone back to live his normal life and surpressed his urges for that time?

Hi JSchmidt,

The killer has to have remorse for killing his victims, in order to have a breakdown afterwards.

The killer may have believed that he was doing the right thing in ridding Whitchapel of the unfortunates, so he has no feelings for the victims.

Now for the killing of Mary is such a way, may have made the killer feel that a heavy burden and heart break, was lifted from his chest, and did not show remorse. As far as he was concerned it was over.

Reference: Edmond Kemper

[Blackkat]

I have been wondering: How functional could "Jack" have been during and after the murders?
Some killers, who have already been less functional in society before their killings, tend to have a psychological breakdown along with their killings, which severely impairs their ability to interact normally with their relatives, neighbours and ultimately every other person they meet.
Some others like the Zodiac seem to be able to keep the appearances up and even refrain from killing for longer periods of time.
The question which really interests me after looking at the timeline of the canonical 5 victims: Is this 3 week gap between the first two and the last 3 victims a sign of the former or the later behaviour?
Could he have gone back to live his normal life and surpressed his urges for that time?

If Jack was to have had a psychological breakdown during his killings - say after the first couple, I don't think he could have stayed "unknown" I think it may have caused a slip up. After the last? Possibly. Depends on the *kind* of breakdown.

Surpressing the urges for 3 weeks? Sure why not. There have been other Sk's that wait longer than that. It may have been that he was fighting it, or just that his regular life activities prevented him from it, or maybe he wasn't in London at that time.

[kensei]

Are we talking about a breakdown in which the killer is so broken up he can't leave the house, or simply one of conflicting inner thoughts? Ted Bundy described a period early in his crimes in which after every attack he would rage at himself, "That was so insane, how could I do that, I am never doing that again!" and be just horrified at what he had done until a period of time went by and the urges came back. Yet the whole time he continued going to school and working and socializing, appearing not only perfectly normal but downright charming to everyone around him.

[YankeeSergeant]

A guess (and Only a guess)!!



I will hazard a guess and ONLY a guess here. Barring an arrest or him dying, I rather think he was quite functional. If as I speculate above, he was not arrested for another criome, incarcerated in a lunatic asylum such as New Bedlam or died than he very possibly lived out his life possibly moving and committing murders in other places. Mind you, this is only speculation,

[Sasha]

Just a thought

I'm not expert either but in my experience, there are those - particularly men - who are able to compartmentalise their lives very well. One person - or aspects of a person for work, and another person - or aspects of that person for home-life. For example, my father (who was not a serial killer or psychopath to my knowledge) was a caring and jovial chap at home but once you asked him a medical question (he was a doctor but was too young to have worked in Whitechapel) he was suddenly a very serious scholarly type that I barely recognised. What could this mean? Perhaps if JTR saw the killings as his work, he might be able to at least partly shut down that part of him when he was at home. This hints to me what kind of professional he may have been eg a doctor (not a new idea I know) or an actor who was able compartmentalise himself into various roles.

Sasha

[Flagg]

Most serial murderers are functional in situations where they have to be. This is just the facade of normalcy. Bundy held it together for a number of years, but when he reached Florida, he got careless and had a hard time containing his dark secret because his carefully crafted facade was crumbling. JtR was probably no different in this respect, a mask to present to society as a whole.