1. Jack the Ripper Assessment
Learning Objective:
To use evidence to form an interpretation

2. What is an interpretation?
Assessment Question: Were the Police at fault for failing to catch Jack the Ripper?
Key Skill: Interpretation
What is an interpretation?
Interpretation is your opinion, supported by evidence.
In history, almost all events are interpreted in different ways.
As long as you can argue why you have decided on your interpretation, you will succeed in this area.

3. The background
Read the information about the police. There are 7 reasons given about why Jack wasn’t caught.
Highlight anything that suggests it was their fault in one colour.
Highlight anything that suggests it was not their fault in another colour.
5 minutes

4. Source evidence
In your essay, you need to say why some people argue that the Police did a bad job AND why some people argue they did a good job.
You will now be given 6 sources to help you support these two opinions with evidence.
You will be choosing 4 sources, 2 from either side of the argument.
You must decide which 2 sources give the best argument to say why the Police did a bad job, and which 2 sources give the best argument to say why the Police did a good job.
Use the tables you are given to say WHAT THE SOURCE SHOWS ABOUT THE POLICE and IF YOU CAN TRUST THE AUTHOR TO TELL THE TRUTH.

5. Think about PANDA, is this important?
Example Source
POLICE NOTICE TO THE OCCUPIER
On the morning of Friday 31st August, Saturday 8th and Sunday 30th September, 1888, women were murdered in or near Whitechapel, supposed by someone residing in the neighbourhood. Should you know of any person to whom suspicion is attached, you are earnestly requested to communicate at once with the nearest Police station.
A leaflet appealing for help, delivered by the police to every home in Whitechapel after the murders of Elizabeth Stride and Kate Eddowes. (September 1888)
What does it tell us?
Think about PANDA, is this important?
Does it convince you?
Is it suggesting the Police did a good/bad job or both?

6. A B C Sources that say it WAS the Police’s fault.
The first ideas for catching the Ripper were quite ordinary – just increase the number of police in London's East End. While there, the constables, who had no reliable description of the killer, spent a lot of time in cheap lodging houses and pubs seeking anyone that looked "suspicious". In the early stages they arrested and questioned countless men. When this failed, they became reluctant to check people who actually WERE suspicious persons. And so the Ripper went on killing. Edited from John Holliday, an historian writing in his book, Jack the Ripper, the Green River Killer and the Police (1990)
Sources that say it WAS the Police’s fault.
An illustration published in Punch magazine on September 22nd It was drawn by Tenniel, one of the most famous artists of the time, and was accompanied by a poem making fun of the police.
Near the body of Catherine Eddowes a bloody piece of her apron was found. Above it was scrawled a message in chalk, thought to be written by Jack the Ripper. Great debate was caused by the decision of the Metropolitan Police commissioner, Sir Charles Warren, to erase this message. He thought it might start a riot when people saw it.
Edited from Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner, two of the world's leading experts on Jack the Ripper, writing in their book, Jack the Ripper and the Whitechapel Murders (2002) C

7. D E F Sources that say it WAS NOT the Police’s fault.
It is unfair to blame the police for not capturing Jack the Ripper. It is hard to recognise now how little in the way of scientific evidence the police would have been able to collect. It would be another fourteen years before the first finger-print conviction. You had no blood-groups, no DNA. In 1888 they could not even tell the difference between human and animal blood. Donald Rumbelow, an historian, speaking in the BBC television documentary, Jack the Ripper: An Ongoing Mystery (2000)
Sources that say it WAS NOT the Police’s fault.
Police photographs of a few of the men who were suspected of being Jack the Ripper. These and many others were interviewed under suspicion of being the serial killer.
He had dark skin and was wearing a hat. I think he was wearing a dark coat but I cannot be sure. He was a man over forty but I couldn’t really tell. He seemed to be a little taller than the victim. He looked to me like a foreigner, but it was dark so I’m not sure.
Elizabeth Long, giving evidence at the inquest into the death of Annie Chapman in September She was describing a man seen talking to Chapman before the murder. F

8. Source A B C Source D E F What does it show/say about the Police?
Who wrote it? Can they be trusted? Why/why not?
Why is the source limited? A B C
Source
What does it show/say about the Police?
Who wrote it? Can they be trusted? Why/why not?
Why is the source limited? D E F

9. To analyse you must consider how reliable the source is. (PANDA)
Student Copy
Interpretation Assessment: ‘The reason Jack the Ripper was never caught was because the Police did a bad job’. How much do your sources agree with this view?
Self assess
Level
www
Ebi
Signed
You can say why some people think the Police were to blame OR were not to blame.
Level 3
You can describe the two different interpretations using own knowledge.
Level 4
You can explain the different interpretations using own knowledge and some sources.
Level 5
You can explain both interpretations in detail using sources, and make a reasoned judgement.
Level 6
You can explain both interpretations in detail, analyse all sources and judge which interpretation you agree with most.
Level 7
To analyse you must consider how reliable the source is. (PANDA)

10. Level 3 Level 4 Level 5 Level 6 Level 7
Student Copy
Interpretation Assessment: ‘The reason Jack the Ripper was never caught was because the Police did a bad job’. How much do your sources agree with this view?
One source that supports the interpretation that the police were to blame is source _ which suggests…. However, the source is limited because…
In my opinion this source is/not reliable because…
Another source that supports…
However one source that rejects the interpretation is…
I believe that the sources do/not support the interpretation because…
You can say why some people think the Police were to blame OR were not to blame.
Level 3
You can describe the two different interpretations using own knowledge.
Level 4
You can explain the different interpretations using own knowledge and some sources.
Level 5
You can explain both interpretations in detail and analyse all sources.
Level 6
You can explain both interpretations in detail, analyse all sources and judge which interpretation you agree with most.
Level 7