This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Jack the Ripper article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the subject of the article.

Add new text under old text. New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help. Start a new topic Assume good faith Be polite and avoid personal attacks Be welcoming to newcomers Seek dispute resolution if needed Article policies Neutral point of view No original research Verifiability

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives (index): 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8Auto-archiving period: 3 months

Wikipedia is not censored. Images or details contained within this article may be graphic or otherwise objectionable to some readers, to ensure a quality article and complete coverage of its subject matter. For more information, please refer to Wikipedia's content disclaimer regarding potentially objectionable content and options for not seeing an image.

This article is written in British English, which has its own spelling conventions (colour, travelled, centre, defence, artefact, analyse) and some terms may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

	Jack the Ripper is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.
	This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on June 21, 2010.
Article milestones Date Process Result April 28, 2004 Featured article candidate Not promoted November 4, 2007 Peer review Reviewed March 19, 2008 Good article nominee Not listed December 31, 2009 Good article nominee Listed January 30, 2010 Featured article candidate Promoted Facts from this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on August 31, 2004, August 31, 2005, August 31, 2006, August 31, 2007, August 31, 2008, August 31, 2009, August 31, 2010, August 31, 2011, August 31, 2013, August 31, 2016, August 31, 2018, August 31, 2019, August 31, 2020, August 31, 2022, August 31, 2023, and August 31, 2024. Current status: Featured article

This  level-4 vital article is rated FA-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects:

Crime and Criminal Biography: Serial, mass, and spree killers High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Crime and Criminal Biography, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of crime and criminal biography on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Crime and Criminal BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Crime and Criminal BiographyCrime-related High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the Serial Killer task force (assessed as Top-importance). London High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject London, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of London on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.LondonWikipedia:WikiProject LondonTemplate:WikiProject LondonLondon-related High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. Sexology and sexuality: Sex work High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject Sexology and sexuality, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of human sexuality on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Sexology and sexualityWikipedia:WikiProject Sexology and sexualityTemplate:WikiProject Sexology and sexualitySexology and sexuality High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale. This article is supported by the Sex work task force (assessed as High-importance). European history High‑importance This article is within the scope of WikiProject European history, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the history of Europe on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.European historyWikipedia:WikiProject European historyTemplate:WikiProject European historyEuropean history High This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report. The week in which this happened: September 7 to 13, 2014 (9th)

The purported DNA evidence is unreliable and universally dismissed by DNA fingerprinting experts and by most Ripperologists. The scientific journal that originally published the study has already printed a notice of concern after the authors were unable to produce any of the original data or rebut criticisms of the work.[1] Consequently, the identity of the Ripper remains unknown. DrKay (talk) 00:47, Monday, June 8, 2026 (UTC)

This edit request has been answered. Set the |answered= parameter to no to reactivate your request.

Change "Attacks ascribed to Jack the Ripper typically involved women working as prostitutes who lived in the slums of the East End of London." To "Attacks ascribed to Jack the Ripper involved poor women who lived in the slums of the East End of London. They have erroneously all been identified as prostitutes, despite evidence to the contrary.

• Cited source: "The Five" by Hallie Rubenhold ~2025-38776-92 (talk) 17:25, 5 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

One soruce cannot overcome 100 years of other sources. Slatersteven (talk) 17:42, 5 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Conflicting sources need to be dealt with according to WP:NOTOR. As noted by Slatersteven, one conflicting source cannot override other sources. Also, please provide a full citation of the book. Aston305 (complain/compliment) 18:37, 5 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I'm planning on combining duplicate citations per WP:DUPREF (keeping the established style of named references). This article makes inconsistent use of citation templates, seeming to use them for everything except books (all but one). I'm thinking of putting all citations in templates, but I'm happy to conserve this somewhat inconsistent style provided it has consensus. Any feedback appreciated. Wh1pla5h99 (talk) 10:01, 27 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I don't mind whether citation templates are used or the original is retained. (I agree consensus should be clear which to use before we make wholesale changes one way or the other to make them consistent.) DrKay (talk) 10:11, 27 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The FA version consistently used non-templated citations. Nikkimaria (talk) 19:14, 27 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

If I'm reading the FA info in the talk header correctly, that was back in 2010. How commonly used were templated citations sixteen years ago? (I don't know the intricacies of the matter, just curious) cheers. anastrophe, an editor he is. 19:52, 27 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the templates were mostly developed in 2005/06. Nikkimaria (talk) 03:08, 28 December 2025 (UTC)[reply]

There's a claim in the article that the victims were generally prostitutes. I disagree with this wording - expert historians generally consider the victims poor, marginalised women. Whilst it is highly likely a few engaged in occasional sex work, labelling them all prostitutes paints an oversimplified narrative. ~2026-40236-3 (talk) 09:52, 19 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

"Whilst it is highly likely a few engaged in occasional sex work" Here we go again. Quoting my own reply to the exact same comment from last year: "Among the canonical five, Catherine Eddowes was likely the odd one out. She had a history of casual prostitution dating to the early 1880s, but otherwise she was mostly employed as a domestic worker and seasonal hop-picker. At the time of her death in 1888, she had a long-term romantic relationship which had lasted for 7 years and she had a reputation for monogamy. Per the main article: the "deputy of Cooney's Lodging-House... stated Eddowes was generally within the lodging-house "for the night" by 9 or 10 p.m. and that he had never seen her intimate with anyone aside from Kelly in the years she typically resided at the lodging-house." Also a bit of an oddity. She was working in Kent for most of the month in September 1888. She returned to London on 27 September, just three days before her death." Dimadick (talk) 12:14, 19 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]

We do not say they were. Slatersteven (talk) 13:26, 19 January 2026 (UTC)[reply]