Essay on Charles Manson and the Manson Family

Picture this…You’re nineteen years old with nowhere to call home, your mothers left you traumatised and permanently scarred. You’re alone in the big bad world. Fragile, vulnerable and powerless. Does any teenager really have life’s answers? Or are they aimlessly searching for them from somewhere or someone else? Cast yourself back to when you were nineteen, if someone had entered your life offering all the answers, don’t tell me you would’ve turned them away. Leslie Van Houten was just nineteen years old when she fell under infamous cult leader Charles Manson’s spell. She thought he could give her the answers everyone so desperately seeks at that tender age. A year after joining the ‘Manson Family’ Van Houten was involved in the 1969 murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. Under Manson’s orders Van Houten stabbed Rosemary approximately 16 times. She was found guilty of murder and is now serving life in prison. In September 2017 Van Houten was granted parole. She now faces a one-hundred-and-twenty-day review period. At the end, it will be decided whether or not she is fit for release. I believe that Leslie should walk free and be allowed a second chance at life.

Crime occurs every day, all over the world. Most crime is unreported or is unknown to the vast majority of the populations. Over time, crime has grown to become a normal part of society and typically people are not surprised to hear that a crime has been committed. Most crimes are dealt with and forgotten, however a few crimes grab the media’s attention and are highly publicized, ultimately giving the criminal their 15 minutes of infamy. Ted Bundy was one of these criminals. Bundy was a law student in Utah and during the 1970’s, he assaulted, raped and murdered at least 30 known women with some criminologists suspecting as high as nearly 100 victims. The tactics he used along with the extent of his killings is how Bundy acquired his long lasting infamy and notoriety as one of America’s top 10 most wanted during his time. Our true focus here is explaining why these murders occurred; truly understanding the motivation behind Bundy’s actions and finding the roots of causation which could lead a person to commit such serious crimes.

Serial murders are not just part of the United States they also happen globally. There are many investigative tools that are used when working a serial murder case and we will discuss some of those. We will also discuss the problems with the media when it comes to serial murders. We will also talk about how the criticism of the public and media can affect serial murder cases.

Charles Manson had a way of picking up on people’s weaknesses and fears, and used it against them. He preyed on vulnerability and, as Linda James said, he offered them wealth and perfect relationships (Fennel, 1993). And, although his claims were extraordinary, he was able to attract a good amount of followers.

     Charles Manson has been named "the most dangerous man alive." Society referred to him as the devil. They believed he was the reason society was so bad in the 1960's. The 1950's to the 1960's was uncontrollably filled with violence. Our culture was shattered by the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and Senator Robert F. Kennedy. At the same time, body bags from Vietnam were building up from a war that was tearing our nation apart. Riots and antiwar protesters marched across America. Many people worried that the US was getting out of control. "The Sixties ended abruptly on August 9, 1969..." wrote Didon in The White Album. On August 8,1969, director Roman Polaski's housekeeper found

When people hear the name Charles Manson, people automatically think of the string of horrible murders this man was involved in during the summer of 1969. Charles Manson is infamous for creating “the Manson Family” and sought to create a war between races with his followers. The book Helter Skelter by Vincent Bugliosi, the main prosecutor in the Manson trial, chronicled the murders carried out by Manson and his followers, the trial following the murders, as well as the psychological diseases that may affect Manson as a person. Manson is responsible for several murders, including that of the pregnant Sharon Tate and Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. While Manson never took part in the physical murders, he was

Charles Manson became known worldwide after helping commit numerous gruesome murders near Hollywood, California. Although, Manson’s legal troubles did not start from that point, he had been in and out of institutions and prisons since the age of twelve, for many different reasons. “For, let out of prison in 1967, the year of ‘the summer of love,’ he became the most hated and vilified figure in America, a symbol of everything that had gone wrong in the ‘60s” (Smith). Even though his release from prison was short lived, he managed to do a lot of damage during his time of freedom. Manson received a life sentence in May of 1970 for the nine murders he helped execute (Baughman). Charles Manson is a well recognized name across the United States.

Serial murder crime though rare, is not a a new phenomenon. This crime has been committed for centuries and will continue to be a crime that is committed throughout the world. It is unfortunate and scary that this is probably one of the most serious of crimes that cannot be prevented. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, serial murderers commit their crimes because they want to. Rehabilitation is not obtainable for serial killers due to their inability for remorse and empathy, or to see people as people and not objects(Knight 2006). This research paper will focus primarily on serial murder within the U.S. First and foremost, a legal definition provided by the U.S. Department of Justice will be presented to set forth the discussion of this research paper. As follows will be a detailed discussion explaining serial killer typologies with the use of examples of known serial killers in the U.S. Types of serial killers are: power oriented, mission oriented, visionary, and hedonistic, each typology will be clearly defined and explained. Some serial killers can have a mixture of each typology’s characteristic. Serial killers that will be discussed and used as examples to represent the content of this research paper will be, John Wayne Gacy, Ted Bundy, Robert Berdella, Jeffery Dahmer, and lastly the most prolific serial killer in American history, Gary Ridgeway. Problems with studying serial killing, are that because of rarity and access. Most of what we think

Charles Manson was a man behind the deaths of nine people in the late 1960s. He was a cult leader manipulated many of his followers to kill innocent people for many absurd reasons: that he was the second coming, that he was both Christ and the Devil, and that Armageddon was coming. Most people saw Manson as a madman. A select few, however, admired Manson for his cunning; to his own followers and in his own eyes, Manson was extremely clever, rather than being insane. In Rog Phillips’ “The Yellow Pill,” two men, by the names of Dr. Elton and Jerry Bocek, are either in a psychiatrist's office or in the vacuum of space. Jerry continuously tries to convince Dr. Elton that they are in a spaceship, yet Elton thinks that Jerry is insane. Evidence throughout “The Yellow Pill” shows that the two men are clearly on Earth, but that does not necessarily mean that Jerry is insane. Like Charles Manson, Jerry is simply well versed in manipulation; he did not have a skewed sense of reality at all.

These are some of the most infamous names in the history of murder, but they hid in plain sight, and Manson did not even commit murder. He was so manipulative he could convince others to do his bidding for him. How is that even possible? Surely one would be able to recognize someone who is such a dangerous threat or would they? One of the reasons these killers can be so successful is their ability to blend into their surroundings and at times even be considered a stand up member of the communities they live in, but what is going on inside their brains?

As I’ve said previously, the life of Charles Manson revolved around interpersonal violence. From an early age Manson was the victim of child neglect – his mother (Kathleen Maddox) would leave him with neighbors, “for an hour, then disappear for days or weeks,”

Manson started his cult not only on his religious beliefs, but on his belief that society had given him a rough past and Manson wanted payback for the resentment he had gotten in his childhood. Therefore, he created a cult to kill.

In the 1960’s, Manson gathered hundreds of followers which he called “The Family.” They lived on a deserted ranch. Most of Manson’s followers were impressionable young females and he used LSD and amphetamines to help manipulate and convince them to act out his wishes. He slowly broke down his follower’s beliefs and made them believe that he was Jesus and that a race war was impending. Eventually Manson’s most loyal followers carried out his acts of violence and left seven people dead. In 1969, police raided the ranch on suspicions of vandalism, unaware of the murders committed until after the arrests. Charles Manson has been labeled “The Icon of Evil.” (Rosenberg, 2009)

Charles Manson was the leader and founder of the cult the Manson Family or The Family, a group of people well known for being serial killers in the late 1960’s. It was believed that they were associated with cult-quasi-religious groups, that came about in the 1960’s and they are still here today. They believe they know what the future of the planet is, when it will end, and how. In a biography of Charles Manson and the Manson Family it said this, “In August 1969 a series of Hollywood murders were to shock the world and tarnish the 60’s free love and peace legacy.”(Biography Channel 2013.) Charles Manson himself never committed any murders with his own hands, but the murders were committed under his order by several of his most obedient

On December 6th, 1941 the world welcomed Richard Benjamin Speck, who would become a well-known mass murderer. Speck, having a rather rough childhood, had an extensive criminal background before committing the unspeakable murders that made him famous. After being found guilty, Speck spent his remaining days in Chicago’s Stateville Penitentiary. One can look at Richard’s personal history, crime and criminal history to try and pin him to one criminological theory, when in reality, none will really fit him to a “T”. He was a psychopath who was in great need of psychological help, among other things.