Calling all Criminologists! What Theories can you apply to the JTR case?

[Scorpio]

I would not draw any conclusions based on the Dahmer case, but Sutcliffe is interesting. The escalating level of mutilation is the important here i think; Sutcliffe did occasionally indulge in post mortem assaults, but he did not show the sort of interest in his victims bodies as Jack evidently did. A serial killer in modern memory called Robert Napper also had this need to violently possess his victims bodies and explore them. Napper was a victim of sexual assault and i believe that the event was important to his psycho- sexual development.

[Errata]

I would not draw any conclusions based on the Dahmer case, but Sutcliffe is interesting.

Dahmer is always sort of an outlier. Dahmer, Gein, even to a certain extent Fish defy a great many "rules" of serial killers. Not to mention there is sort of a twisted and extremely sick sort of affection in their killings.

There are a bunch of categories any serial killer can be put into, but the more I read about one type, the more sense it makes to concentrate on it. There are body collectors (Dahmer, Gein, Fish), the are body dumpers (Bianchi, Sutcliffe) and there are body abandoners (Jack the Ripper). Comparing JtR to Bundy or Dahmer makes little sense, given that they had such drastically different relationships with the victims. Just a thought.

[Canopy]

Hello!

I am no crimanologist but can quote John Douglas (who is) :

* Jack was white, male and between 28-36
* Jack came from a family with a domineering mother and weak, passive, and/or absent father
* In all likelelihood, his mother drank heavily and enjoyed the company of many men. As a result, Jack failed to recieve consistent care and contact with stable adult role models and became detached socially with a diminished emotional response towards others.
* He was paranoid and carried one or more knives with him in case he was attacked.
* The paranoid-type thinking is justified because of his poor self-image.
* Not expected to be married or to have carried on a normal relationship with women.
*Percieved as quiet, shy and a loner, slightly withdrawn, obedient, fairly neat and orderly in appearance.
*The unknown suspect attemped to neutralize his potential victim quickly and unexpectantly before she could put up a defense.
* Suggests the only "Ripper" letter to be potentially genuine is the Lusk letter.
* These are not planned, considered kills; they're frenzied, out-of-control overkills. There's no pattern or internal logic to it.

Douglas classifies Jack as a "lust murderer". Direct quote given in support of this: "This has less to do with the traditional meaning of the word than with the fact that the subject attacks the genital and sexually orientated areas of the body."

Well, so says John Douglas - I'm sure that you'll get better replies but, while you're waiting...

All the best,

C.

P.S. (Edit to add!) SO SORRY! I answered a "recent" post being new and thought it a new thread! AMUSED by my stupidity though...*hands in the air* if you wish to know more about Douglas!!! :-)