Criminological Profile of Charles Manson

Charles Milles Manson was born on December 11, 1934 to a 16-year-old woman in Cincinnati, OH. After a childhood of being bounced around between aunts and uncles while his mother struggled with alcoholism, served a stint in prison, and even turned to prostitution as a source of income, it soon became clear that Manson was not an ordinary adolescent. (Biography 1) However, he would later chastise writers who described his mother as a whore:

"Other writers have portrayed Mom as a teenage whore...In her search for acceptance she may have fallen in love too easily and too often, but a whore at that time? No!...In later years, because of hard knocks and tough times, she may have sold her body some..." (Bardsley 15)

His first brush with the law came when he was caught stealing at just nine years old, and subsequently sent to a reform school. Even then, there was no semblance of stability. Manson was often transferred to 'stricter' schools when the previous one found it couldn't contain or control him. (Bardsley 15)

In 1951, Manson came up for parole from the National Training School for Boys, and it appeared likely that he was going to be released into the custody of a willing aunt and uncle. Just before the parole hearing, however, Manson held a razor blade to another boy's throat and sodomized him. He was subsequently sent to the Federal Reformatory at Petersburg, Virginia to serve a longer sentence. (Bardsley 15) This being his first criminal act beyond theft, it's easy to draw conclusions as to his motivation; Manson had begun to prefer institutionalized life to that on the outside. This calls to mind Edwin Lemert's theory on primary and secondary deviance. In this case, Manson used a means of deviance entirely apart from his modus operandi in order to protect himself from a world outside of reformatories which he perceived to be undesirable.

This was a pattern that would continue with Manson for some time-upon being released, he would immediately return to deviant behavior that landed him in prison for the majority of his young life. On March 21, 1967 Manson went a step further in begging a group of prison guards not to set him free at the end of a ten year sentence for theft and rape:

"Oh, no, I can't go outside there...I knew that I couldn't adjust to that world, not after all my life had been spent locked up and where my mind was free. I was content to stay in the penitentiary, just to take my walks around the yard in the sunshine and to play my guitar..."

Despite his pleadings, Manson was released from prison and eventually built up a group of mostly female followers in the California hippie scene. A very charismatic and handsome youth, he possessed an astonishing ability to coerce those around him. He preached, very successfully, of an impending race war he called Helter Skelter, which would end with the black population brutally killing and forcing the white population into submission. This let to the infamous Tate-LaBianca murders that were committed by several members of what became deemed the "Manson Family", the followers he had convinced of the oncoming apocalyptic war. Officially, seven murders are thought to have been committed by Manson and his "family". (Bardsley 18) Manson would go on to receive a death sentence, but had it commuted to a life sentence in prison following the 1971 abolition of capital punishment. The members of the Manson family would defend him to the end during his trial, and even admitted to murdering a prosecuting lawyer while the case was being tried. (Britannica)

When examining the profile of Charles Manson, it is worth bringing up the studies on Individual Traits of Crime. First incarcerated for theft at the young age of nine, he indeed displayed many of the warning flags said to be indicators of crime. As evidenced by his constantly being transferred to different institutions, he showed a definite incapacity to learn from punishment. The incident in which he sodomized a young boy in order to remain incarcerated also shows an under developed sense of morality, as well as a low level of empathy. He initially displayed high impulsivity which repeatedly landed him in detention homes. However, it would not be long before he replaced impulsive crimes with ones that were premeditated and deliberate, and were meant to serve a specific purpose.

By the time the famous murders were committed, Manson had already cumulatively spent 17 years in prison. As documented earlier, he had begun to see himself unfit for the outside world, instead perceiving life behind bars as a safer, more familiar environment. At the Federal Reformatory, he was classified 'dangerous and safe only under supervision.' (Bardsley 15) It is possible that Manson was subject to the so-called "labeling effect," where a deviant simply becomes the type of criminal they are described as being. The logic behind the effect is consistent with Manson's situation; the window of opportunity for a legitimate lifestyle was rapidly closing, and existed only in a world he did not trust. At this point, there may have been no rational option outside of a criminality. His low emotionality and empathy levels, combined with his being treated as more dangerous than other adolescents in reform schools, could have led him to the perception that he was something beyond a typical delinquent and played directly into the rationale for the murders he would later commit.

Given the lack of a bridge between Manson's childhood deviance and the cold-blooded murderer he became, perhaps the best explanations lie in the strain theories of crime. His strains were well-documented from early childhood, beginning with his mother's struggles with addictions and criminality. Of his own admittance, his transfer to the care of his religious aunt and uncle, then subsequently a reformatory, was a stark contrast to the freedom he had experienced under the care of a young, troubled parent. When his mother returned from a three year prison sentence to reclaim custody of Manson, she embraced him in what he would later call his "sole childhood joy." (Biography 1)

While the statement was clearly indicative of a life full of strains from the very beginning, it also calls to mind his followers and shines light on a question that is not given much attention; how, exactly, was Manson able to manipulate so many of those around him into committing such heinous murders? The answer could lie in his astounding capability to analyze the personalities of himself and those around him. He was able to tap into the sensibilities of the teenagers who would become his "family," easily blending himself into the California hippie scene and mirroring their frustration with the current state of society. As explained by Merton's theories of adaptive behavior, he appealed to the rebellious nature of the people around him, dreaming up the story of an oncoming race war after which they would be charged with overthrowing the new authority.

Most of Manson's biographical sources explain away his actions as some combination of mental disorders and childhood misfortune. It is noted in Marilyn Bardsley's account of Manson's life that "[Helter Skelter] was a con, something dreamed up to impress his followers, but he probably believed some of it." There is much mention made in sources that Manson fancied himself as Jesus Christ, the one who would lead his followers into the desert where they would survive the Helter Skelter and return to retake the earth as their own. (Bardsley 18) However, there is very little that attempts to explain Manson's actions through criminological theory.

The juxtaposition of secondary deviance, individual traits of crime, the labeling effect and general strain theories of crime go a long way to describe the foundations of Charles Manson's deviancy. They are evident in his actions, and more importantly, the descriptions he provides of himself. Manson, in his plea to the prison guards who were setting him free, displayed an acute understanding of his own psyche and even recognized his lack of compatibility with the world he was being released into. This does not ring of a person out of touch with reality, but rather one who fully understands and yet chooses to reject the society surrounding him. For this reason, attempts to characterize his actions through a strictly psychological lens have fallen short of the mark. Biographers nonetheless have remained fixated on the idea of Manson as clinically insane and his thinking as chaotic, leaving behind a monumental gap when it comes to examining and explaining his criminological profile.

Sources:

1."Charles Manson." Encyclopedia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. 04 Jun. 2009 .

2.Bardsley, Marilyn. "Charles Manson and the Manson Family". TruTV Crime Library. .
3.The Biography Channel. "Charles Manson Biography." http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biography_story/306:157/1/Charles_Manson.htm