19th century crime and prostitution

-19th Century Crime Rate-

What factors were contributing to the crime rate?There were 3 reasons why London Whitechapel was a good place to commit a crime. These were:-Pollution-Housing-Social life

-Pollution-

-London was an industrial city in the 19th century, therefore, is suffered      seriously from pollution. -The smoke and stinking gas fumes chocked the streets so badly that, at  times, you couldn't see your own hand in front of your face. This smoke    was known as smog (smoke + fog = smog!) -These smogs were called 'pea soupers' because of their dense, greenish    colour. 

-Housing-

-In the poorer areas of the city, such as Whitechapel, the housing was terrible. There was no sanitation and sewage ran openly through the overcrowded, maze-like streets. Added to this, there were few street lamps in the poorer areas.  -Disease was everywhere in the East End, the average age of death of a working class man was 17. In the 19th century, they didn't know about germs, so the germs from sewage would contaminate drinking water. Due to poverty, people did not have a very good diet so illnesses such as typhoid were common. All the houses also were crowded with 5+ people living in one room, on top of this, none of the houses had toilets and water came from the local river or pond, however this water was contaminated from the sewage run off.

-Social Life-

-There was also little work available for women, and no help for those women who were unemployed other than the workhouse. Many were forced to become prostitutes to survive. For many such women, there only escape from their terrible lives was drink, especially gin, and they quickly became helpless alcoholic prostitutes. -The Whitechapel area had a large amount of Pubs and Inns to profit from the poverty and depression of the people inhabiting that particular area. There were probably approximately 90,000 'part-time' prostitutes. These women were forced to make ends meet. All the victims that Jack the ripper murdered in cold blood were prostitutes.