Customer Reviews

The Long Prison Journey of Leslie van Houten: Life Beyond the Cult (Northeastern Series on Gender, Crime, and Law)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

Writing a biography of a personal friend must be a very tricky business. Karlene Faith met famous Manson murderess Leslie Van Houten almost thirty years ago, and has proven an effective advocate for her eventual release. The relationship between the teacher and the reformed cult member is touching and very real, but it undermines this book as a chronicle of a criminal's transformation from delusional disciple to remorseful, decent soul.

Rather than focus on Van Houten's thoughts and feelings during her three decades behind bars, Faith uses the book as an apologia and rationalization for the prisoner's choices and behavior when a very young woman. The author seems to have only a vague realization of the monstrousness of the crimes committed, and lays the blame squarely on the mastermind, exonerating her subject and casting her as a victim in the same mold as those who lost their lives. Van Houten herself seems to have a clearer view of her own culpability, and it would have been interesting to hear more about this from her own mouth.

The book does cast a disturbing light on the inequity and gross politicization of the justice system. Van Houten's crimes, and her admitted participation in them, should allow for the imposition of a true life term, and so far the system seems intent on doing so. It's shocking to read, then, that all of the other prisoners on death row with Van Houten when the death penalty was suspended were released from prison within a few years. It seems that when no one is watching, the justice system plays by some very inept and unfair rules. Certainly Van Houten poses no further threat to society, while the prison system routinely ejects predators with murderous histories and no sign of reformation.

Though thick with pages full of psychobabble and research into cult psychology, there are enough anecdotes in the book to humanize the subject and make it an interesting read. Van Houten does come across as an obvious candidate for legitimate parole. But Karelene Faith's blind approach to this polarizing subject may be the last thing Van Houten needs.

I was pretty disappointed in this book. Karlene Faith relies on an overabundance of clichés and a meager sprinkling of insight into the character of Leslie Van Houten and Van Houten's involvement in the Manson murders. Although published in 2001, the book reads as if it might have been written thirty years ago, at the beginning of the feminist movement. Leslie and her fellow murderesses are given every consideration: they were victims of "cultivated femininity", they "never lost their innocence", they were so brainwashed they relinquished all control and thought; however, Faith contradicts herself when excusing Leslie's involvement in the Manson Family as, "...Although part of his inner circle, Leslie was never part of Manson's inner, INNER circle. She would lapse into thinking for herself...". So in one fell swoop, the author denies Leslie's culpability and recognizes it.

In spite of that, one gets the feeling that Leslie herself has taken on more responsibility for her involvement than the author gives credit for. What Leslie seems to recognize, which the author does not, is that the Manson murders branded themselves on the American psyche, and society demands a price be paid. The author becomes downright offensive when she coyly alludes to other murders and murderers since then who have not received the notoriety of the Manson girls, suggesting perhaps that we are being a tad unfair in having the audacity to remember the shock and horror of the Tate-LaBianca deaths.

The author spends much time on Charles Manson and his responsibility as leader of the "cult." What she forgets is that members were free to come and go, and various people DID walk away from Manson and his personality. Faith also takes pains to mark how the Manson girls are exceptional in their good behavior in prison, apparently without noting the irony that they were exceptional members of Manson's inner circle, and before that Van Houten was an exceptional student and twice prom queen. It makes me wonder if these women's ability to get along in the unnatural atmosphere of prison is linked to their ability to have gotten along in the bizarre world of Manson's philosophy...and just how well they would be able to integrate themselves outside of the rigidly controlled environment of prison should any of them meet another guru.

In the end, this book gives more insight into the author's embrace of victim ideology, and quite a bit less into the mindset and maturity of a major participant in the crime of the century. I cannot imagine this book helped Leslie Van Houten's case for parole.

Two themes not touched on in the book: justice and individual responsibility.
"The parole board has shown a clear unwillingness to move beyond the crimes (Van Houten stabbed Mrs. La Bianca 14 times--feeling like a 'shark with it prey')" of Ms. Van Houten is the typical, absurd refrain throughout the book. The author, Ms. Faith, wonders if Van Houten "had actually been involved in the murders at all." She asserts that Van Houten is a "friend" (at one point Ms. Faith brings banana splits to the "charming" convicted murderers.) She goes on to state that the Manson girls were "generous gift givers: 'I was the recipient of the complete collection of Charles Manson's song lyrics.'" According to this book, what happened to Leslie Van Houten "could have happened to any trusting young woman." I could go on, but you get the idea.
A further absurdity in the book is the author's typical refrain that the real causes of crime are "poverty, racism and low wages" while (unwittingly?) stressing the nurturing, supportive, middle class background of all the killers involved.

I found Ms. Faith's book quite interesting. I have worked in law enforcement and corrections at both the state and federal levels.

I do find some fault with Ms. Faith's application of feminist ideology to the case; the main theme of the book seems to be that Leslie and her co-defendants committed their crimes because they had been socialized by the culture to behave in a "feminine" manner, thereby making the girls prime candidates for Manson's diabolical brainwashing techniques. Although the girls were certainly indoctrinated, it seems evident to me that they joined the cult for the same reasons that many join young men and women continue to join cults and gangs-to find a surrogate family and acceptance.

The book raises the very important issues of justice and rehabilitation as they pertain to those who commit heinous crimes. Certainly, Leslie and most of the other Manson followers seem to have changed their lives in prison (I am including Atkins, Krenwinkel, Watson and Davis), but their crimes are so severe that justice seems to demand that they spend the rest of their lives in prison. If any of the defendants deserve release, it is Leslie (she was 19 at the time of the crimes and had a relatively minor role as compared to the others). Given the publicity and political climate, I do not believe that Leslie will be released during her natural life. Manson and his followers were such a bizarre and frightening cast of characters that any parole board or Governor (who must ultimately agree to parole in CA) would face severe repercussions and ridicule if they released anyone connected with these crimes back into society.

Ms. Faith has an important story to tell and I recommend her book to anyone interested in how our society deals attempts to balance the issues of rehabitation and justice for high profile offenders in the information age.

For those interested in an unbiased, straight forward look at The Manson Women, with ACCURATE facts, this is not the book. Karlene Faith is a personal friend of the female Tate-LaBianca murderers & therefore, is NOT a fair observer. She does not have the capacity to stand back & view them, Miss Van Houten in particular, in an unbaised light. Besides, getting some of the facts wrong, she paints the murderers as the victims, minimizing their horrific crimes. She minimizes the pain these women inflicted on the victims & their families. By putting the majority of the blame on Manson himself, who technically did not participate in the hand's on killing, she has presented the women as mere observers. She fervently believes that their time of incarceration has far-surpassed the maliciousness of their crimes. She believes they have been punished more than they deserve, as if slaughtering seven people (one eight and one half months pregnant) was no more severe than stealing a loaf of bread. "The Manson Women" by Dr. Clara Livsey is a far more accurate account of these women's true natures.

How much does a human life cost? 30 Years? 32 years? What does your life cost? Your mother's life? Your daughter's life? Leslie Van Houten is serving an extended prison term for taking the life of a human being. She has paid thrity-two years so far, and it is yet to be determined how much that life will eventually cost her. She was sentenced to death, and beat the gas chamber along with the other convicted murderers from the Manson Family. Many have married, have children, "got religion" and become preachers. Shut off from society, they haven't done too badly for themselves. This book has been rated as close to zero as possible not for it's style or writing or subject matter as much as the nature of it's content (can any of this be separated?). This book is another attempt to short-change society. It says Leslie Van Houten, convicted killer, has paid 32 years for the life she more than willing assisted in taking (in fact, was thrilled with the killing), and as far as her "Boswell" and this killer are concenred, Van Houten has paid enough. The life taken was only worth 32 years. Ponderous tomes can be penned (as this one is), whining into infinitude about the unfairness to killers and criminals and that the cages to be opened. These Mansonites blame Manson (as brought out in another book, Manson: the Unholy Trail of Charlie & the Family, by John Gilmore, a far more realistic approach to these crimes). Through Karlene Faith, Van Houten is saying Hitler is to be blamed for Nazi crimes, not the bigwig SS men and women who did the butchering. They were beguiled--mislead; under the evilinfluence of Hitler himself. I'm afraid Hilter had more than willing underlings, as did Charlie Manson. Manson's H"SS" woman Van Houten, a convicted killer, managed to escape the death penalty herself. Her victim did not. There is a spectrum of society that desires to turn the other cheek. There is a greater specturm that says the life this woman willfully took cannot be measured in years.

This book is a wimpy, intellectuzing of a very basic fact: MURDER is irreversible. Death is death. You don't come back for the applause when the curtain falls. Now, like so many other caged killers, Leslie Van Houten, through her mentor Karlene Faith, has made the headlines again. A different face this time, new makeup, hairdo, even religious blabberings, but the same person that wielded the knife blade that stole a life far superior to her own.

Well researched and informative, and definitely worth reading. A brief reading of all the reviews quickly reveals that those who think that L.V.H. should never be released simply hate the book, and those that are willing to consider K. Faith's perspective typically liked it.

I don't think that K. Faith's perspective is completely objective, but it does raise some very interesting points: Should we be open to the notion that people can change and that prisons should serve not just to punish criminals (at a tremendous cost to society) but also to rehabilitate? Perhaps one of the most interesting questions is "should taxpayers continue to keep someone behind bars when they clearly are no longer a threat to society? Regardless of my opinions, Faith did a good job of getting me to think about these basic questions.

I read this book, as well as the other reviews by other customers, and I am appalled that anyone with any amount of reasonable intelligence believes that Leslie Van Houten deserves to be paroled! The Tate-LaBianca murders are perhaps the most horrible murders ever committed in the recorded annals of crime. Seven innocent people were savagely slaughtered over one weekend in August, 1969 for no reason at all by a bunch of depraved, drug-addicted misfits of society on the orders of their demented leader, Charles Manson. Let's look at the facts and see whether Leslie Van Houten truly deserves parole or not:

1. Leslie admits that she WANTED to go along on the second night of murder and that she believed in what Charles Manson said needed to be done to bring about his warped version of a race war to be ignited as "Helter Skelter". She knew full well and has said in interviews "I knew there would be killing".

2. She unlawfully entered the home of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca along with Charles "Tex" Watson and Patricia Krenwinkle on orders from Charles Manson to "don't let them know you're going to kill them".

3. Leslie admits that she held a screaming Rosemary LaBianca down so Patricia Krenwinkel and Tex Watson could stab her to death. She then was given the knife and told by Tex to "do something". By her own admission, she stabbed Rosemary LaBianca 16 times in the lower back and buttocks. The coroner concluded that 13 of these stab wounds were post-mortem and that one of the wounds to the lower back was in and itself fatal. So Leslie's argument that she stabbed a woman who was already dead is a crock. She also admitted that she wiped the house down for fingerprints, took a shower with the other murderers and helped herself to food from the LaBianca's refridgerator.

4. She bragged to other family members that she took part in the slaughter of the LaBianca's and "the more you stab the more fun it is".

5. During the trial she testified that she did indeed stab Rosemary LaBianca and that she had no remorse for what she had done.

She was found guilty of 2 counts of first-degree murder and sentenced to death for what she so willingly did. When her death sentence was overturned a year later she received a gift that the LaBiancas never will.

I agree with most of the other reviewers of this book - the bottom line is that this women deserves to spend the rest of her life behind bars for mercilessly slaughtering two innocent people!

A few things about this book 1) Its tiresome. The author goes on and on and on (and on) about how wonderful of a person Leslie Van Houten has become. In fact, Ms. Van Houten does sound like a fine person, but the author's reverence towards her is hard to stomach and it makes the book hard to take seriously. 2) The political yammerings are also offputting. The author makes it sound as if all of society is corrupt, chaotic, and illogical...

Looks like the naive Ms. Faith got taken in by the Manson game herself. This book is so preposterous, I don't know where to begin. (I could start with that dewey, Frances Farmer-esque "Will There Really Be a Morning" cover photo of the killer; oh, brother.) In 1969, Van Houten et al were young and had their troubles; however, they had options. They chose their path, disregarding plenty of warning signs along the way. They were intelligent enough to know that what they were doing is wrong, and they deserve to be held accountable for the rest of their lives. Life imprisonment without parole is not at all a cruel and unusual punishment in this case. It's a small price to pay considering the unbelievably callous brutality of what they did, and the innocent lives they ruined. All their good behavior, degrees and AA memberships achieved within the penal system, while admirable, will never change those aspects of this crime. In some ways, Van Houten perhaps should be judged with more severity because there appears to be no reason whatsoever for her to have turned to a life of crime other than personal choice. For example, while Charles Manson's unfortunate childhood circumstances should never excuse his crimes, they at least offer some insight and understanding of how he came to be involved in such atrocities. Van Houten grew up knowing nothing but privilege and a life of ease. One can only imagine the monster that may have resulted had she grown up facing even a fraction of the abuse and lack of care that Manson dealt with on a regular basis. These defendants all deserve to remain in prison, not only for the severity of their crimes, but also because of the fact that they so easily turned from everything they had known to butcher and slaughter innocent people -- all because someone told them to do it. How could we ever trust them again? Why should we? If Ms. Van Houten is truly remorseful, takes responsibility for her atrocities and wishes to make some sort of amends, the best she can do for our society is exactly what she apparently has been doing for years, according to her record -- being a model prisoner and helping fellow inmates. This gives her the opportunity to serve society in a positive way while being kept in a controlled environment, to completely eliminate the most remote possibility of anything like this ever happening again. This, to me, is an excellent use of tax dollars and the optimal way for her to pay back. I doubt that she would be as beneficial to society on the outside; as a matter of fact, I fear that she could become dangerous again. Denying her parole also is the best message the system can present to our society -- and the very least that can be done to help the victims' families achieve and maintain some semblance of closure. With so few good reasons to release this unpredictable long-term inmate, and so many practical, beneficial reasons to keep her in, parole denial seems like a foregone conclusion. Van Houten is up for parole again 08/25/04. I urge everyone who wants to see her remain incarcerated to write to the parole board: Margarita Perez California Board of Prison Terms 1515 K Street, Suite 600 Sacramento, CA 95814