Charles Manson

Alexis Beumeler

December 5, 2020
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Charles Manson

Charles Manson was born on November 12, 1934 in Cincinnati, Ohio. He was born with

the name Charles Milles Maddox to Kathleen Maddox, a 16-year-old girl who was an alcoholic

prostitute. Kathleen married William Manson, but the marriage was short-lived. William Manson

is a man with little detail about himself except his name and when he was born. Manson grew up

without a father, you could say he also grew up without a mother but he had no contact with his

father at all. Kathleen would leave Manson when he was an infant to go on benders with her

brother. During one of these benders they robbed a man and were arrested moments later.

Kathleen was sent to prison for a couple years and released when Manson was eight (O’neill,

2019). Manson was committing crimes before he turned ten, by the age of twelve he was placed

in The Gubault School for Boys. It was a Catholic school run school for delinquents in Terre

Haute, Indiana, but Manson ran away. Ten months later, he ran away again and got into burglary

to make extra cash. That ended him in a correctional facility and he ran away from there too. By

thirteen he was sent to the Indiana boys school, which was described as a tougher institution than

the others he had been to. He claimed that the other boys there had raped him. He continued

running away, he had run away eighteen times in three years. In 1954 caseworker’s had been

taking frequent note of his antisocial behavior and psychic trauma (O’neill, 2019). Which would

later play a role in his future life.

After the boy’s school, Manson attempted to return home to his mother who rejected him

and didn’t allow him to live with her. He had nowhere else to go and ended up living on the

streets, getting by with things like petty larceny, armed robbery, burglary and auto theft

(Jenkins,2020). For twenty years he spent time in and out of reform schools and prison for

various crimes. Once released from prison in March of 1967 he moved to San Francisco. Manson

was influenced by LSD, artwork and music. He created the “Manson Family” which was a cult
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of 100 followers. They shared his passion for unconventional lifestyle and habitual use of

hallucinogenic drugs. They moved from San Francisco to a deserted ranch in San Fernando

Valley. Many of Manson’s followers were impressionable young girls. Manson convinced them

that he was, “Jesus and his prophecies of a race war.” He told them a race war between blacks

and whites was imminent and would result in great power for the family. Manson told them they

should instigate the war by killing the rich white people and trying to make it look like the work

of blacks (History, 2020). The Manson Family, Charles Manson included, are said to have some

35 killings. Though most of their cases were never tried due to lack of evidence (Biography,

2020).

On August 9, 1969, a few members of Charles Manson’s cult went to Roman Polanski’s,

a movie director's Beverly Hills home, and killed five people including Polanski’s pregnant wife

and actress Sharon Tate. However, they were not the intended target for Manson’s cult. Manson

attempted to secure a recording deal and failed from a producer who previously lived at that

residence and was the intended target. Roman Polanski was out of town at the time of the

murders but unfortunately Sharon Tate and her friends were not so lucky and were taken at the

hands of the Manson family. Then Less than two days passed before they went and killed two

more people who had no correlation to the previous victims. Leno LaBianca a grocery store

executive and his wife Rosemary were tied up by Manson and robbed, then left with other

members of the Manson family and were murdered (History, 2020). These murders turned

Manson into what is known as a criminal icon because of how horrendous and outrageous there

were.

Manson was not there on every night that crimes took place, but he was still charged with

murder on the grounds that he had influenced his followers and masterminded the crimes.
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(History, 2020). After one of his followers was arrested for an unrelated crime and was bragging

about the murders that they had committed, the police were led to Manson where he was then

arrested for his part in the crimes (A&E, 2020). He was charged with first-degree murder and

conspiracy to commit murder for the deaths of seven people. His criminal charges read; 9 counts

of murder, 1 count of conspiracy to commit murder. He was originally sentenced to death, but

California Supreme Court no longer had the death penalty, so he was sentenced to life with the

possibility of parole. He served out his life sentence and was denied parole twelve times. He died

in prison on November 19, 2017 at the age of 83 due to cardiac arrest (Ati,2017). While Manson

was incarcerated he had many rule violations. Having a cell phone, having a homemade weapon

and more. In 2014 Manson and Afton Elaine Burton who was twenty-seven year old and a big

fan of Charles Manson were granted a marriage license, however it expired before they could get

the chance to use it. (Hamilton, 2019).

Charles Manson is listed as a potential psychopath, rightfully so. When thinking about

Manson’s background and childhood nothing surprises me when then evaluating the person he

turned out to be and the lifestyle he lived. He was born to a mother who before the age of 16,

was an alcoholic and prostitute. He did not have a father figure to look up too and he was sent to

an all-boys school. There isn’t anything generally wrong with all boys’ schools, but it may be

more difficult to have the same socialization aspects as one would have in a public school

system. Not to mention his claim of being raped at one of the schools by the other boys there.

Directly after leaving the all-boys school he became homeless. He started doing drugs, mostly

hallucinogenic drugs (Serratore, 2019). Most people take hallucinogenic drugs for the trip, and to

feel relaxed. However, they can have negative side effects and long term effects. If a person has

what is called a “bad trip” they can experience things like anxiety, paranoia, panic, fear, or
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unpleasant hallucinations. The come down of these drugs is just as bad, depression, anxiety,

panic attacks and psychosis. Long term effects can also be just as bad, you can experience

flashbacks of the drugs up to years later after taking it. They can cause social problems, having

arguments and disagreements over the use of drugs. They can cause many health problems and

on top of that legal problems. Not to mention mixing drugs can cause the body to go under

extreme stress, and potentially cause a heart attack (my.Dr, 2013).

Many people who are labeled as a psychopath have some sort of background that is

unlike those who are listed as a non-psychopath. For instance, many have abusive parents, or

parents who neglected them. Others might turn to the place of getting into drugs early. Most who

are labeled as psychopaths are antisocial and tend to stick with themselves but are okay with

having people around when it is convenient. Manson never had a family; his parents were not

present, hence him becoming homeless at a young age. He then created what everyone calls, “the

Manson family.” Everyone that was a part of the Manson family cult were young teenagers, who

had no place to go or felt like they didn’t belong where they were. It was the kind of people who

were easily manipulated and persuaded. Manson had the psychological perspectives as most

psychopaths do. The ability to appear friendly on the outside but having personality or behavior

disorders on the inside. He was described as, “charismatic and friendly on the outside, but evil

and psychopathic on the inside.” It is enough to say that one is “psychopathic”, but Charles

Manson was more than that, he was also considered a sociopath. Sociopaths and psychopaths

have few things in common, but psychopathic criminals are cool, calm and meticulous. Which

explains Manson well considering he was able to execute many horrible murders and was never

caught until one of his followers told someone else while in prison. Even more so he convinced

innocent people who looked up to him to also commit horrible murders because he was able to
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persuade and manipulate them into thinking it was the right thing to do. After all they considered

him their leader.

Researchers say that there is a social basis to psychopathy. That social factors, things like

abuse might lead to someone becoming psychopathic (Blair 2006). There is evidence of

association between physical and sexual abuse and increased aggression and impulsivity.

However, they think that abuse is unlikely the core feature of psychopathy. They describe

psychopathy as a developmental disorder that can be identified in both childhood and adulthood.

Someone who is described as psychopathic as a child is also identified as psychopathic as an

adult, essentially it is not something you can grow out of. Manson was diagnosed and showed

signs of antisocial disorder at a young age. It is a mental disorder where a person consistently

shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others (Mayo, 2019).

Antisocial personality disorder has a lot of the same key factors that the PCL-R has and can also

be referred to as sociopathy. Environment is a big factor in how someone turns out. With that

being said the older the people get the more they can make their own choices. Although some

people can have the best life, they can still choose to go down the wrong path. For Manson his

childhood and background were not good as previously mentioned. The environment he was

surrounded with for most of his life were people who didn’t care about him. He didn’t have

parents who he could look up, he was a consent trouble maker, and because of that went to many

different schools for deviant children such as himself. On top of that, getting into drugs didn’t

help lead his life in the right direction. Drugs ended him up in the wrong community, meaning

when you do drugs you often find yourself surrounded by other people who also do drugs. You

find yourself constantly looking to buy more drugs. Which causes you to commit crimes because

you don't have the money to buy more. It is a vicious cycle that never ends if you don’t seek
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help. Manson’s background, and his antisocial personality disorder plays a big role in him being

a psychopath. Antisocial personality disorder is known for your genes making you vulnerable to

developing it and life situations may trigger its development (Mayo, 2019). Manson could have

had many life situations that triggered it’s development, not to mention he doesn’t know his

families history or if mental illness or if Antisocial disorder runs in it. However, there is no way

to prevent Antisocial disorder in those who are already at risk. Treatments for Antisocial disorder

are difficult. It depends on the willingness of the participant and the severity of symptoms.

Psychotherapy is sometimes used to treat Antisocial personality disorder. Meaning they

treat different things depending on what fits each person. For example, anger and violence

management, treatment for alcohol or substance misuse, or treatment for other mental health

conditions (May, 2019).There are no medications specifically for Antisocial personality disorder

but like psychopathy they can prescribe things for certain conditions. Depression, anxiety,

aggression, or others. The problem with prescribing medication is they don’t want it to lead to

misuse.

Manson's life comes as no surprise. No parental figures, substance abuse, criminal

recorded from a young age. His behavior seems to slowly start to escalate. However, on the

outside to the people he brought into his so-called family found him normal. Manson's followers

found him credible and trustworthy. They believed that what he said was always the right thing

because they had never had the attention that he gave them. He brainwashed them, and then used

them to his advantage. For many years after Manson and the followers of the Manson family

were arrested they still supported him and what he did for him. It wasn’t until years later, early

2000s when most of them made public apologies for their roles they played in the murders. Most
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of the followers while in prison turned to religion, and some of them even got married a couple

times while in prison.

The criminal justice response to Charles Manson is the correct one. Though Manson was

originally sentenced to the death penalty and that in itself could have pros and cons, he ended up

with life in prison because the death penalty law changed. The death penalty is known to be

spendy, takes a long time, it takes more then fifteen years from sentencing to execution and does

not change future crimes. Even with the death penalty in place future murders still committ the

crime, no matter the outcome in the end. Though people think if states do not have the death

penalty that it means more crime happens, there is no evidence to support that. No study shows

that the death penalty reduces murder. They have actually seen that murder rates go up wether

they have the death penalty or not (Kassab, 2017). Since the death penalty law did change,

changing Mansons sentence to life in prison there are pros and cons. Pros about life in prison is

he does not get the easy way out and just get to die. He has to sit in prison and think about what

he did. Though Manson was ruled a psychopath that won't do too much good. Considering it

would be hard for him to have any remorse for what he did. Cons about Manson getting life was

that he was eligible for parole. Luckily, he was denied parole more than a dozen times. Which

was a smart choice, he had been in and out of prison his whole life and nothing changed. He still

continued to commit crimes, the crimes as he got older even continued to get worse. Eventually,

leading to running a cult and committing and orchestrating horrendous murders. There is a study

that shows people who experience jail or prison time often go back. Now this might be because

they have already experienced the worst so it can’t get any worse. It also could be because

people feel like they have no other choice but to commit crime to get by. Or lastly, they just

don’t care what happens. As for Manson's family, they were all also denied parole over a dozen
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times. Even though most of Manson's followers found religion and shared public remorse for

their crimes, they were all considered dangers to society. No one trusted or believed that they had

really changed and that if they were released they would not harm anyone else. The criminal

justice response was appropriate. Though it is possible and has happened that someone who was

once committed crimes could change and live out their life not in prison. Manson was not one of

them, the manipulation he was able to have on others was unsafe. His psychopathic tendencies

were not safe. The criminal justice system made the correct call denying him parole.

If there had to be another route other than this, the suggestion would be a facility. When

Manson reached old age, the consideration of putting him into some sort of facility to free up

space would have been a suggestion that could have been worked out. It would have needed to

be something where convicts go to live out the rest of their life. However, looking back on

everything Manson did, his past and previous jail or prison time. It would be hard to trust

someone like that with other people around them. If that were the case and he did get sent

somewhere other than prison there should be stipulations. Therapy, medications of mental and

health conditions, around the clock supervision and more.

Manson is a criminal that will never be forgotten. There are books, movies and more on

him. Even after death he is still being continued to be discussed. He will be continued to be

discussed and studied by people for long after.

Work Cited

All That's Interesting. “The Bizarre Story Of Charles Manson's Death And The Battle For

His Body.” All That's Interesting, All That's Interesting, 27 Jan. 2020,

allthatsinteresting.com/charles-manson-death.

“Antisocial Personality Disorder.” Mayo Clinic, Mayo Foundation for Medical Education

and Research, 10 Dec. 2019, www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-

personality-disorder/symptoms-causes/syc-20353928.
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Blair, R.J.R., et al. “The Development of Psychopathy.” Association for Child and

Adolescent Mental Health, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd, 22 Feb. 2006,

acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01596.x?

casa_token=cOHa6vOkjzwAAAAA

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Tg1JibZEpytNdvFHet.

“Charles Manson Cult Kills Five People.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 9 Feb.

2010, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/manson-cult-kills-five-people.

“Charles Manson.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 1 Sept. 2020,

www.biography.com/crime-figure/charles-manson.

“Hallucinogens: What Are the Effects?” MyDr.com.au, 12 Feb. 2020,

www.mydr.com.au/addictions/hallucinogens-what-are-the-effects.

Kassab, Beth. “Does Murder Rate Go up without the Death Penalty?”

Orlandosentinel.com, Orlando Sentinel, 5 June 2018, www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-

does-death-penalty-deter-crime-20170321-story.html.

Kiehl, Kent, and Julia Lushing. “Psychopathy.” Scholarpedia,

www.scholarpedia.org/article/Psychopathy.

O'Neill, Tom. “What Was Charles Manson's Life Like Before He Formed 'The Family'

Cult?” A&E, 25 June 2019, www.aetv.com/real-crime/charles-manson-early-life-before-

the-family-cult.
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Serratore, Angela. “What You Need to Know About the Manson Family Murders.”

Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 25 July 2019,

www.smithsonianmag.com/history/manson-family-murders-what-need-to-know-

180972655.