The FBI Profile

Please Note: Criminal profiles like this are usually only about 50% accurate.

 

A 1988 FBI report, prepared by Supervisory Special Agent John E. Douglas, claims that serial killers such as Jack the Ripper generally begin committing their crimes in their mid to late 20s.

 

However, most of the known Ripper suspects were older than this, and most of the witnesses describe men who looked older.

The report also said that about half of all serial killers grow up with an "absent father" and a "domineering mother" as the killer's family background, failing to create a "stable" home life. The murderer would have been quite withdrawn and shy in company. As far as the victims he chose, the Ripper likely killed prostitutes "because they were readily available".

 

However, these generalisations only hold true for about half of all serial killers that have been brought to justice. Jack the Ripper, according to the FBI Profile: 

• was a white male, 28-36 years of age;

• was of average intelligence, lucky not clever;

• did not have medical knowledge or surgical expertise;

• was a quiet loner;

• was of lower social class;

• hated, feared, and was intimidated by women;

• did not write any of the “Jack the Ripper” letters, and would not have publicly challenged the police; 

• did not commit suicide after the murders stopped;

• was single, never married, and had difficulty in interacting with people in general and women in particular;

• lived or worked in Whitechapel, and committed the crimes close to home;

• had a poorly paid job with little or no interaction with the public;

• was employed Monday to Friday, possibly as a butcher or hospital attendant (London Hospital was nearby);

• was nocturnal and not accountable to anyone;

• blended in with his surroundings;

• had poor personal hygiene, and appeared dishevelled;

• was the product of a broken home, and lacked consistent care and stable adult role models as a child;

• was raised by a dominant female figure who drank heavily;

• internalized his anger;

• drank in local pubs prior to the murders;

 

The EFit Analysis

Using all of the matching witness statements from the period (eye-witness accounts are notoriously contradictory - the investigators ignored statements that contradicted the majority) and a piece of computer software called EFIT, or Electronic Facial Identification Technique, detectives have developed what they believe to be an accurate facial depiction of Jack the Ripper. Most of the witness accounts agreed on several traits, including:

• He was between 5'5" and 5'7" (165-170 cm) tall.

• He was stocky, with a full face.

• He had dark hair and a dark moustache.

• He was between 25 and 35 years old.

• He had a fair complexion.

 

One of the more interesting features of the EFIT software is that it takes into account the psychological shifts that eye-witnesses make when they're reporting on a person's appearance, and it makes adjustments for them.