Left or right handed.

[The Rookie Detective]

Same is true for the Polly Nichols murder St Devil.
The cuts across the throat were believed to be made from the killers right to left....
a left handed killer.

JtR was most likely either ambidextrous or left handed .... probably left handed due to the consistency.

Unless the killer is kneeling over Nichols and cuts her throat from the front to avoid blood splatter...then it could be a right handed cut.

Whether the killer was left or right handed is irrelevant until it can be determined the position the killer was in when he cut the victims throat.



RD

[John Wheat]

Just a thought but I wonder what the data is on serial killers in terms of being right or left handed? Is it roughly the same as the general population? Maybe someone on the site knows? Or has some data?

[Lewis C]

Just a thought but I wonder what the data is on serial killers in terms of being right or left handed? Is it roughly the same as the general population? Maybe someone on the site knows? Or has some data?

Hi John,

I don't know the answer, but if no one else has the answer, then I have a broader question: is there any way in which left handers tend to be different from right handers, other than for things directly related to their left or right handedness?

[JeffHamm]

Hi John,

I don't know the answer, but if no one else has the answer, then I have a broader question: is there any way in which left handers tend to be different from right handers, other than for things directly related to their left or right handedness?

I can't think of anything off the top of my head that might apply to crime or serial killing, but a greater proportion of left handers will have more language processing in their right hemisphere compared to right handers. In the brain, language tends to be more a function of the left hemisphere in most people, which results in a greater risk for language impairments following left hemisphere strokes compared to right hemisphere strokes. However, left handers have a greater number of people where their language functions are greater in their right hemisphere, and so may be spared severe language deficits following a left hemisphere stroke (in language related areas of course). It's not every left hander, though (it is not a guarantee), and I don't recall the percentages.

Also, for most, and probably everyone except very unusual cases (usually involving some form of brain damage), the right hemisphere is not unable to process language entirely, although it usually has little involvement in speech.

While there is a very large amount of overlap, the tendency is for left handers to be slightly more symmetrical in brain structures, but you need to compare a lot of brains and the overlap would make it nigh on impossible to determine if someone was left or right handed just by looking at brain asymmetry.

- Jeff

[Lewis C]

I can't think of anything off the top of my head that might apply to crime or serial killing, but a greater proportion of left handers will have more language processing in their right hemisphere compared to right handers. In the brain, language tends to be more a function of the left hemisphere in most people, which results in a greater risk for language impairments following left hemisphere strokes compared to right hemisphere strokes. However, left handers have a greater number of people where their language functions are greater in their right hemisphere, and so may be spared severe language deficits following a left hemisphere stroke (in language related areas of course). It's not every left hander, though (it is not a guarantee), and I don't recall the percentages.

Also, for most, and probably everyone except very unusual cases (usually involving some form of brain damage), the right hemisphere is not unable to process language entirely, although it usually has little involvement in speech.

While there is a very large amount of overlap, the tendency is for left handers to be slightly more symmetrical in brain structures, but you need to compare a lot of brains and the overlap would make it nigh on impossible to determine if someone was left or right handed just by looking at brain asymmetry.

- Jeff

Thanks, Jeff. Do you know if having more of the language function in the right hemisphere tends to have any practical effects on a person's life that can be recognized by other people, if the person hasn't had a stroke?

[Darryl Kenyon]

Hi John,

I don't know the answer, but if no one else has the answer, then I have a broader question: is there any way in which left handers tend to be different from right handers, other than for things directly related to their left or right handedness?

Hi Lewis
i think I read somewhere that left handed people are supposed to have slightly faster reflexes , [minutely of course ]. Hence southpaw boxers, a lot of left handed batsmen in cricket and a high proportion in fencing. All sports where fast reflexes would be an advantage for example.

Regards Darryl

[JeffHamm]

Thanks, Jeff. Do you know if having more of the language function in the right hemisphere tends to have any practical effects on a person's life that can be recognized by other people, if the person hasn't had a stroke?

There's no noticeable difference in terms of language ability, developmental time course, etc.

- Jeff

[Lewis C]

Hi Lewis
i think I read somewhere that left handed people are supposed to have slightly faster reflexes , [minutely of course ]. Hence southpaw boxers, a lot of left handed batsmen in cricket and a high proportion in fencing. All sports where fast reflexes would be an advantage for example.

Regards Darryl

Hi Darryl,

That's interesting. It's also the case that a disproportionate number of hitters in major league baseball are left-handed. I've always attributed that to the fact that most pitchers are right-handed, and it's easier for a left-handed hitter to hit a curveball thrown by a right-handed pitcher than it is for a right-handed hitter. I still think that's the main reason, but the slightly faster reflexes might also be a contributing factor for so many left-handed hitters.

[Darryl Kenyon]

Hi Lewis
Here is an article on the subject

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-433138/Left-handers-better-sport-edge-given-faster-reactions-say-scientists.html

Regards Darryl

[Michael W Richards]

I think he was right handed.
I think the throats were cut from behind, allowing him to keep the chin down while he lowered them to the floor preventing the blood from spraying and the fact that both Nichols and Chapman were laid down with their left side towards a wall or fence made ripping "Upwards" the more likely option for a lefty, while inserting the blade higher up the torso and drawinng it downward is the optimum position for a rightykneeling on the right sideof the body. I don't think he cut upwards.

I've struggled to find a definitive position for Eddowes' body position in Mitre Square as there seems to be some discrepancies and I find it hard to poinpoint exactly what position she was in. I'd appreciate it if someone can point to me to a definitive description. As it stands the best I can come up with is that her head was toward the corner and her feet towards the square... (Mitre Square, and the "double event" in general are not my strong suit...)

In my opinion Stride wasn't intended to be one of his "subjects" at the time he killed her. Even for the risk-taker he clearly was, that spot was ludicrously dangerous to attempt his work. I don't believe he was interrupted by the horse, but rather by Stride herself. I think he tried to lure her away, she became either angry or suspicious, maybe said "You are that man who is killing all those women!" and he killed her to shut her up, and legged it.

Of course Kelly had her right side toward the wall, but that was an entirely different set of circumstances in terms of what freedoms he had to go about his business...

I believe that a few of the murders that have been "Canonized" reveal circumstantial evidence the suggests right hand dominance at the very least. Using that same kind of formula and filter, the murder in Millers Court appears to have been more likely a left handed killer based on the circumstantial evidence..."freedom of movement" as you suggest in that last line would mean that a right handed killer could have moved the bed from the wall, correct? Or he could have turned the bed 90 degrees from the partition wall and had both sides to work from. But she was simply attacked while on her right side facing the partition wall, oriented to the right upper side of the bed. To cut her throat with a right hand held knife means lifting her head and sliding the hand under, or leaning almost onto and across her to access the throat with his right hand. But, not a problem if as you say, he had certain "freedoms" in room 13 and could adjust the body position for a more advantageous angle of attack for his right hand. He didnt do that though, did he? He just worked from the side and angles that was given to him, and that almost certainly makes him left handed imho.

[Michael W Richards]

The benefit of believing that the evidence in the Canonical Murders reveals different knives were used, different skills were shown, and different results were achieved, it allows for some theorizing that likely different killers were involved within those five killings, rather than just looking for a single lone killer changing basic skill sets, apparent objectives and foundation actions at will.

Like an argument that says in Millers Court its still Jack, but he is now also left handed, and isnt interested in obtaining female internal anatomy anymore. The surgical kinds of cuts made on Annie were no longer needed, and he could just slash and cut and slash and cut at will.

Does the fact that Mary is butchered in ways that have nothing to do with what he eventually extracted and took, that do not resemble medical student knowledge or skills.... not put into serious question whether this was the same killer as Annies, for example? Instead of finding excuses for the differences, maybe use them as some preliminary evidence that these were different men?

So you can look at something at face value, rather than suggesting some hypothetical reason why these differences are there. Like hypothesizing Strides killer was interrupted to explain the total absence of Ripper-like knife work, or suggesting the man in room 13 was still Jack but now demonstrating ambidextrous talents, despite the fact that only this one 'Ripper" crime scene suggests a left handed man, and no others have any foundation for exhibited ambidextrous actions.

The desire to maintain this 5 victim Canonical Group and a single lone madman despite evidence that suggests the contrary is I believe influenced by a fear of reprisals and an easily satisfied curiosity.

[A P Tomlinson]

I believe that a few of the murders that have been "Canonized" reveal circumstantial evidence the suggests right hand dominance at the very least. Using that same kind of formula and filter, the murder in Millers Court appears to have been more likely a left handed killer based on the circumstantial evidence..."freedom of movement" as you suggest in that last line would mean that a right handed killer could have moved the bed from the wall, correct? Or he could have turned the bed 90 degrees from the partition wall and had both sides to work from. But she was simply attacked while on her right side facing the partition wall, oriented to the right upper side of the bed. To cut her throat with a right hand held knife means lifting her head and sliding the hand under, or leaning almost onto and across her to access the throat with his right hand. But, not a problem if as you say, he had certain "freedoms" in room 13 and could adjust the body position for a more advantageous angle of attack for his right hand. He didnt do that though, did he? He just worked from the side and angles that was given to him, and that almost certainly makes him left handed imho.

I think you misunderstand what I meant by "...freedoms he had to go about his business..."
I wasnt referring to "freedom of movement" based on architecture and furniture. I was talking about the luxury of time and not having to keep an eye out on different routes along which a random stranger might wander along.
He could strangle Mary into either uncosciousness or death and then take his time with the knife... and he clearly did.

I don't think anything about her murder and brutalisation reveals anything about which hand he used.

[Michael W Richards]

I think you misunderstand what I meant by "...freedoms he had to go about his business..."
I wasnt referring to "freedom of movement" based on architecture and furniture. I was talking about the luxury of time and not having to keep an eye out on different routes along which a random stranger might wander along.
He could strangle Mary into either uncosciousness or death and then take his time with the knife... and he clearly did.

I don't think anything about her murder and brutalisation reveals anything about which hand he used.

The part in bold explains your reticence in accepting a left handed killer.....not when you can just modify who Jack is and what he does at the drop of a hat. So you suggest Freedom, but only in limited application? If he was free to take his time and was alone with his victim, what prevented him from making his anticipated work easier to accomplish for a right handed killer? He had the Freedom to move the victim, or the bed, or just push the bed from the wall. He did none of that.

So...in the Ripper world that often means then he must have been ambidextrous, a guess which has a 99% chance of being incorrect.

[A P Tomlinson]

The part in bold explains your reticence in accepting a left handed killer.....not when you can just modify who Jack is and what he does at the drop of a hat. So you suggest Freedom, but only in limited application? If he was free to take his time and was alone with his victim, what prevented him from making his anticipated work easier to accomplish for a right handed killer? He had the Freedom to move the victim, or the bed, or just push the bed from the wall. He did none of that.

So...in the Ripper world that often means then he must have been ambidextrous, a guess which has a 99% chance of being incorrect.

Fair enough... so following your line of thinking... if he HAD turned her to cut her throat, why would he not have simply... moved her back to get to the chest and abdomen?

How would you know whether he had moved her or not prior to the evisceration?

[c.d.]

The desire to maintain this 5 victim Canonical Group and a single lone madman despite evidence that suggests the contrary is I believe influenced by a fear of reprisals and an easily satisfied curiosity.

Definitely a fear of reprisals not to mention losing out on all the discounts at theaters and restaurants you get from being in the C5 club. And of course getting tossed from the C5 Christmas card list is too horrible to even contemplate.

c.d.