To begin with, the violence Sutcliffe meted out to his unfortunate victims was largely sexualized. Apart from being exclusively women, most of Sutcliffe's victims were prostitutes. Further, it can also be noted that in most cases, Sutcliffe first and foremost sought to render his victims incapable of defending themselves. This in most cases he accomplished by striking them with a hammer. Most of Sutcliffe's attacks also seem to have been planned well in advance. This is more so the case given the similarity of all his victims as well as use of similar weapons in his attack. Russell's murders on the other hand had several characteristics which did not match any of the other HITS database murders (Keppel and Birnes 2008). These characteristic had to do with victims' body posing, preferred method of body disposal and foreign objects insertion (sexual) into a victim's body (Keppel and Birnes 2008).
What the Selected Case Means to Me
All the attacks Sutcliffe occasioned on his victims in addition to being brutal obviously also caught his victims by surprise. He also sought to degrade his victims by badly mutilating their bodies after subduing them. All these victims had families and friends who loved them. Perhaps these victims also had people who were entirely dependent on them. Any of these victims could have been my sister, mother or even grand-daughter. In any case, the death of each and every one of Sutcliffe's victims caused some people untold pain. To me, this case is an indicator of how (for some perverted reason) cruel human beings can be to fellow beings.
The case also clearly demonstrates the relevance of a centralized...
Police officers investigating the assaults and murders in this case were significantly slowed down by information overload (especially given that most information was stored in paper form). Indeed, according to the National Policing Improvement Agency (2010), the vast amount of information in this particular case significantly hindered the progress of investigators. To me, this case is an indicator of the relevance of technology when it comes to crime investigation.
Conclusion
By charting the behavior of the offender at the crime scene, investigators can weave together critical pieces of information which could lead to the successful apprehension of the offender. In seeking to chart the behavior of the offender, investigators could rely on several manifestations of the same including staging, signature, and modus operandi. In the cases mentioned in the text above, these manifestations of offender behavior are clearly identifiable.
References
Crime and Investigation Network. (2011). Peter Sutcliffe: The Yorkshire Ripper. Retrieved October 12, 2012, from the Crime and Investigation Network website: http://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/crime-files/peter-sutcliffe -- the-yorkshire-ripper/arrest.html
Keppel, R.D. & Birnes, W.J. (2008). Serial Violence: An Analysis of Modus Operandi and Signature Characteristics of Killers. New York: Taylor & Francis Group.
National Policing Improvement Agency. (2010). History of the Business Perspective for Major Investigations. The Journal of Homicide and Major Incident Investigation. 6(1), 37-39.
