Doris Tate

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Doris Tate in 1984, confronting Charles Watson at his parole hearing with the presentation of her victim's impact statement.

Doris Gwendolyn Tate (January 16, 1924 – July 10, 1992) was an American campaigner for the rights of crime victims. After the brutal and vicious murder of her daughter, the actress Sharon Tate, and several others, she worked to raise public awareness about the United States corrections system and was influential in the amendment of California laws relating to the victims of violent crime.

Born in Houston, Texas, Tate was a housewife and mother of three daughters, who had never sought a public life or career. In 1969, her eldest daughter, Sharon, was at the beginning of a film career, and married to film director Roman Polanski. Eight months pregnant with their first child, Tate and four others were murdered at the Polanski's Beverly Hills home in a case that was sensationalized throughout the world because of its brutality. The killers were eventually identified as Charles 'Tex' Watson, Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel, acting on behalf of the leader of their group, Charles Manson. All four were found guilty of the murders and sentenced to death, along with Leslie Van Houten, who had not participated in the murder of the Tate victims, but had participated in the murder of a Los Angeles couple the following night. The death sentences were overturned before they could be applied when the State of California temporarily abolished the death penalty.

For more than a decade after the murders, Tate battled depression and was withdrawn and unable to discuss her daughter's death. In 1982 she was told that Leslie Van Houten had obtained 300 signatures supporting her quest to achieve parole. Tate who had vowed to keep her daughter's killers behind bars mounted a public campaign against Van Houten, winning the support of the National Enquirer which printed coupons in its magazine for people to sign and send to Doris Tate. With more than 350,000 signatures Tate demonstrated that a considerable number of people opposed Van Houten's parole, and it was considered in the parole board's assessment of her, with her parole ultimately being denied.

Tate, shy by nature and not comfortable speaking in public found herself thrust into the limelight, and realizing that she could continue to work on behalf of her late daughter, gradually adapted. She appeared on various television talk shows, discussing her opinion of the corrections system and the impact her daughter's murder had had on her family. She joined the Los Angeles chapter of the "Parents of Murdered Children" organization, and while she drew support from the group, also found that she was rewarded by assuming the role of counsellor. She later became an active member of the "Victim Offender Reconciliaton" and "Justice for Homicide Victims" groups. She founded "COVER" (Coalition on Victim's Equal Rights) and served on the "California State Advisory Committee on Correctional Services" as a victim's representative.

She was part of a group that worked towards the passage of "California Proposition Number 8", the "Victim's Rights Bill", which was passed in 1982, allowing for the presentation of victim impact statements during the sentencing of their attackers. In the case of murder victims the law allowed the victim's family members to speak. Tate became the first Californian to make such a statement after the law was passed, when she spoke at the parole hearing of one of her daughter's killers.

In 1984 she ran for the California State Assembly as an advocate for victim's rights. Though unsuccessful she continued to campaign for changes to existing laws, and was involved in the passage of "California Proposition Number 89", which allowed the governor of the state to overturn decisions made by the Board of Prison Terms.

Tate was unflinching in her assessment of Manson, Watson, Atkins, Krenwinkel and Van Houten, saying that their crimes were so vicious as to warrant execution. Confronting her daughter's killers she spoke plainly to them. Susan Atkins, who had boasted of stabbing Tate because she was "sick of listening to her", began to change her story as she sought to obtain parole. She had embraced religion and argued that as God had forgiven her, she did not need the forgiveness of anyone else. Denying responsibility, she changed her story to say that she had argued with Watson against killing Tate. Doris Tate said at a parole hearing "You're an excellent actress. The greatest job since Sarah Bernhardt". To waiting media she said "I feel very sorry that these people chose this way of life. But after eight convictions of murder, there's no turning back. And society has been kind to Ms. Atkins by overturning the death penalty, and that is more concern than she gave my daughter".

In 1992, Doris Tate's work in support of victims' rights, was acknowledged by President George H. W. Bush. Also pictured are Sharon Tate's sisters, Debra and Patti.

Addressing Charles Watson at his parole hearing in 1984 she said, "What mercy, Sir, did you show my daughter when she was begging for her life? What mercy did you show my daughter when she said give me two weeks to have my baby and then you can kill me? ... When will [Sharon] come up for parole?... Will these seven victims and possibly more walk out of their graves if you get paroled? You cannot be trusted". She again confronted Watson at his 1990 parole hearing.

Diagnosed with a brain tumour, Doris Tate's health began to deteriorate. In 1992 she was one of several volunteer workers recognized by President George H. W. Bush as one of a "Thousand Points of Light". The ceremony, during which Tate and her family were honoured by the President for their work in promoting victim's rights, marked Doris Tate's final public appearance. She died later that year at the age of 68.

Her work was taken over by her younger daughter, Patti who was involved in the establishment of the "Doris Tate Crime Victim's Bureau", a non-profit organization with the aim of monitoring criminal legislation and raising public awareness. The Bureau began in Sacramento, California in July, 1993. In 1995, the "Doris Tate Crime Victims Foundation" was established with the aim of providing assistance to victims and their families. Patti began to represent the Tate family at parole hearings for Manson and the other killers, however her own health failed, and in 2000 she died from breast cancer. Her role was then assumed by the middle Tate daughter, Debra Tate.

Doris Tate aimed to make something productive from the murder of her daughter. Explaining her point of view, she said, "You can't make sense out of the innocent slaughter of Sharon and the other victims. The most that I, or any person touched by violence, can hope for is acceptance of the pain. You never forget it, not even with the passage of time. But, if, in my work, I can help transform Sharon's legacy from murder victim to a symbol for victims' rights, I will have accomplished what I set out to do."