Charles Manson's Labeling Theory

Introduction

Charles Manson (1934) was born in Cincinnati, Ohio by a single mother Kathleen Maddox who was too young ( i.e. 16 years) to take care of his upbringing needs, making Mason to wader from relative’s homes and some institutions, which exposed him to engage in delinquency at a tender age of nine, escaping various times to engage in burglary. He established the Manson Family during 1960s in California as an ex-convict, who was jobless and had participated in correctional centers due to engagement in various crimes. Manson is a convicted serial murderer since he used his Family to execute brutal killings but there lacks evidence to implicate him with direct murders, charged due to conspiracy and his ‘Helter Skelter’ concepts. Manson

The social learning theory for instance shows Manson leant deviance in his early childhood from his mother, who was incarcerated when he was five. This implicates the environmental control and that of close persons. It depicts that behavior modification can be achieved through enhancing the social environment for criminals. The social conflict theory explains that individuals engage in crime when the legal system, which is under the control of the wealthy, identifies their acts as being unlawful (Lionell & Rawlins, 2005)

Labeling theory

The theory argues that individuals engage in crime following their being identified as criminals such that they behave in a manner to fit the awarded label (Arrigo & Williams, 2006). Manson was such a victim as he was regarded as dangerous in reformatories. He found no other option other than engaging in crime and regarded himself as more than a typical delinquent.

Biological and psychological

As a result, these individuals are incapacitated if their behavior related to crime is untreatable. The biological theory argues that individuals engage in crime due to genetic, neurological as well as biochemical deficits (Lionell & Rawlins, 2005). This way, Charles Manson’s criminal behavior could be explained by this theory since he is mostly emotionally withdrawn, skeptical, materialistic, over sensitive and inconsistent in attitudes and decisions. Psychological theories points out those individuals engage in crime due to personality disparities, which develops in early childhood. Reflecting to Manson’s case, he could be termed as clinically insane. Manson started engaging in crime at a very early age and had a criminal record at the age of nine. This is mostly implicated to his upbringing where he had spent much of his early childhood in reformatories and social institution’s. He spent less time with his single mother who had to make a living through vile means as well such as stealing and prostitution. He had an unstable childhood as his mother was an alcoholic prostitute and this affected Manson’s growth and development, a concept emphasized by Strain’s theory of crime (Schmalleger, 2009).

Primary & secondary deviance

Primary & secondary deviance are reflected when Manson particularly sodomized another boy to escape parole and remain in