Criminon

Question answered by honorarykid in Scientology

escapee asked this question on 9/30/2000:

I was reading an answer by a believer in the good that Scientology does, and she mentioned Criminon. Criminon didn't even exist when LRH was alive. The word "crims" is a terribly derogatory word that as far as I know, was David Miscavich's origination. It was used as slang as the lowest of the low. It was used to degrade. Now there is a "help" group called Criminon? So what do they do, promise jobs in the Sea Org? Is that where they recruit their staff? What tech do they have to handle criminals?

On this point I am a disbeliever, because I know that the COS routinely has thrown out people that are "difficult" cases, the Potential Trouble Sources, they label people SP instead of rehabitating because they have no technology to rehabilitate a real suppressive person. So they are really being effective helping criminals change their colors?

Convince me.

honorarykid gave this response on 10/3/2000:

Criminon is a public relations front for Scientology. It recruits prisoners and convicts.

I'm not sure if it ever helps anyone in prison, but it most definitely can plant some really bad ideas in some unbalanced minds.

Charles Manson studied Scientology while in prison, PRIOR to forming his own cult group. Then, when he got out, he started his murderous "family." The rest is history.

Did Manson's examination of Scientology give him the impetus to build his band of insane zealots? I can't prove anything, but I think it definitely played a large role in planting the ideas for building a band of loyal zealots in Manson's mind.

On the day the shocking stories about the brutal murders of Sharon Tate, her fetus, and the LoBianca's broke in the newspapers, the CoS in Los Angeles organized a hasty effort to destroy all records of Manson's involvement in Scientology.

Was that an ethical thing to do? I leave that determination as an exercise for the reader. escapee rated this answer:

escapee asked this follow-up question on 10/7/2000:

Are you sure that Charles Manson formed his killer group after he was in prison? Was he in prison more than once? As I remember it, his visit to ASHO was about 1969, or thereabouts. His name was known (not as a Scientologist) in LA as a dangerous person then, and when those two young clears were killed in LA in 1970 Manson was suspected. I thought it was after that time that he started his prison term.

honorarykid gave this response on 10/7/2000:

Yes, Manson has been in prison more than once. He served time for (I believe) a non-violent burglery charge. That's when he was first introduced to Scientology. He formed his "family" after he was released from that prison sentence.

I believe your suspicions about the killings of the two Scientologists are correct. It's been a long time since I read it, but I recall in his book about the Manson cult, "Helter Skelter," author Vincent Bugliosi opined that the two Scientologists may have actually been the Manson family's first murder victims.

The cult members were never charged or convicted in those two deaths. In fact, I don't think those two murders were ever solved or their cases closed.

And, if I'm recalling correctly, Bugliosi also suspected that Manson's group may have been responsible for a few other unsolved murders around the L.A. area, as well.

Of course, the cultists were convicted for the two well-known multiple murder sprees that were the final evolution of the family's bizarre "creepy crawly" game, in which they would sneak, en masse, into randomly selected, occupied homes in the middle of the night, and creep around in the dark.

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