Sociology / The Manson Family
Charles Milles Maddox, a convicted American criminal from Cincinnati, Ohio, was the leader of a cult, called the Manson Family in the late 60s (Crime Museum, 2017). His cult consisted of eight members who, by his manipulative biddings, were convicted in 1971 of nine first-degree murders and conspiracy to commit murder in four places from July to August, 1969 alone. His members were Charles “Tex” Watson, Bobby Beausolell, May Brunner, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Steve Grogan. They claimed the lives of their victims in the much-publicized Hinman, Tate and LaBianca murders. Mostly rich and famous, these victims were Bernard Crowe, Barbara Hoyt, Gary Hinman, actress Sharon Tate, Abigail Folger, Wojciech Frykowski, Jason Sebring, Roman Polanski, Leno LaBianca and his wife Rosemary. The motive behind the murders was Manson’s belief in an approaching Apocalypse of a Helter Skelter. Helter Skelter, as Manson rigidly indoctrinated into his cult members, was a racial war between the “blackies” and the “whiteys.” His response to this perceived racial war was to hide himself and his family in a cave at the Death Valley until the end of this war. Murdering “whiteys” was his way of facilitating the war and then turning the blame on African Americans through sly acts, such as dropping victims’ possessions in areas populated by the Black community (Crime Museum, 2017).
Manson asserted profuse influence over his members by taking advantage of their vulnerabilities and fed these in order to bend their minds and hearts to his will. By maneuvering these vulnerabilities, he asserts both supreme unconditional power and authority over his members. And deviance is central to the cult by transgressing contextual, cultural or social norms. Manson was said to have broken the law as early as age 9 and was in trouble with it all his life. Half of his life was spent in prison by age 32 and he was the cult’s role model.
The Court Cases
During the Tate and LaBianca murder trial, Manson was his own attorney but this privilege was withdrawn after many violations of conduct (Holcey, n.d.). In response to the cancellation of the privilege, he marked an X on his forehead. During the lengthy testimony of Linda Kasabian, Manson interfered with the testimony and called attention to the newspaper headline on former President Richard Nixon’s declaration of his guilt. Further, he would disturb legal proceedings in various ways like making uncalled-fo remarks and plunging himself at the judge while female cult members chanted in support or praise of their leader’s acts. Van Houten’s attorney, Ronald Hughes, was found dead at the end of the trial for refusing that his client testify. It was the consensus what the cult was behind it. It took a week for the jury to come out with a ruling of guilty for all of the accused and a conviction of death for all of them. But the 1972 Court ruling converted the death penalty to life imprisonment (Holcey, n.d.).
If the trial were held today, Manson would certainly not be allowed to be his own lawyer. The accused or witnesses as well as everyone else in the court room would be ordered to conduct themselves in utmost discipline. Commenting, making noise or violating norms will not be tolerated, as the offender or offenders will be sent out of the room.
Deviance and the Conflict Theory
The conflict theory holds that social and economic factors are responsible for crime and deviance (Holcey, n.d.). Proponents of this theory argue that individuals who turn to crime and deviance do not interpret social and cultural norms as positive social functions. Rather, they view them are reinforcements of the existing inequality of power in society. The fact of an inverted pyramidal distribution of wealth and power shows that these are concentrated in a very small percentage of the population, with less and less going to more and more in lower social strata. Rebellion takes the forms of crime and deviance (Holcey, n.d.).
WORKS CITED
Crime Museum (2017). Charles Manson and the Manson Family. Crime Library: Crime
Museum LLC. Retrieved on March 3, 2018 from
Holcey, S. (n.d.). Deviance, Crime and Social Control. Chapter 8, Sociology. Retrieved on
April 4, 2018 from
http://www.holceyhistory.weebly.com/uploads/2/2/5/0/22509738/sociology_chapter_8_powerpoint.ppt
2018/5340
