The civil parish of Whitechapel in London's East End became increasingly overcrowded. Work and housing conditions worsened, and a significant economic underclass developed. Robbery, violence and alcohol dependency were commonplace, and the endemic poverty drove many women to prostitution. In October 1888, London's Metropolitan Police Service estimated that there were 62 brothels and 1,200 women working as prostitutes in Whitechapel. The economic problems were accompanied by a steady rise in social tensions. Between 1886 and 1889, frequent demonstrations, such as that of 13 November 1887, led to police intervention and further public unrest. Anti-semitism, crime, nativism, racism, social disturbance, and severe deprivation fed public perceptions that Whitechapel was a notorious den of immorality. In 1888, such perceptions were strengthened when a series of vicious and grotesque murders attributed to "Jack the Ripper" received unprecedented coverage in the media.

All of the Ripper's victims would be considered high-risk, in that they were all prostitutes with drinking problems who plied their trade in and around the same pubs and on the same streets of the crime-ridden Whitechapel area. All were around 40 years of age except the last victim, Mary Kelly, who was 24 at the time of her murder. Like numerous other serial killers, Jack the Ripper was motivated, at least in part, by a tortured sexual pathology. Therefore, prostitutes, who in effect represent pure sex, were logical targets. These street walkers were easily accessible victims of opportunity who had the misfortune of crossing paths with Jack the Ripper.

From August 7 to September 10 in 1888, "Jack the Ripper" terrorized the Whitechapel district in London's East End. He killed at least five prostitutes and mutilated their bodies in an unusual manner, indicating that the killer had a knowledge of human anatomy. Jack the Ripper was never captured, and remains one of England's, and the world's, most infamous criminals. The culprit responsible for the murders of five prostitutes—all took place within a mile of each other, and involved the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate and the City of London—in London's East End in the autumn of 1888 was never apprehended. Despite countless investigations claiming definitive evidence of the brutal killer's identity, his name and motive are still unknown. The moniker "Jack the Ripper" originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the Whitechapel butcher, published at the time of the attacks.

An amateur sleuth with a book to sell and a scientist working in his spare time claimed to have solved one of the biggest murder mysteries in history by naming Jack the Ripper as a Polish immigrant in the 19th Century after discovering what they said was conclusive DNA evidence. Aaron Kosminski, a Polish Jew whose family had emigrated to London to escape pogroms, is “definitely, categorically and absolutely” the man behind the grisly series of murders in 1888 that left at least five women dead and mutilated in the streets of London’s East End, said Russell Edwards, the author of the latest in a long line of speculative books on the affair. Leaving aside for a moment that Kosminski, who was 23 when the murders took place and died in a lunatic asylum at the age of 53, was already a leading candidate for the murders, what exactly is this new evidence that so definitely nails him as the culprit?