Manson Family Member Recommended for Parole

Only in America can you break in someone's house, brutally murder them, stab them almost 20 times, get sentenced to death, have that sentence overturned, then wind up maybe getting out of prison altogether. SMH.
http://www.breitbart.com/california...on-cult-member-gets-parole-notorious-murders/

 

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On one hand she was essentially just a kid caught up in a cult on the other she did partake in a heinous crime. if she's no longer a threat what do we gain from keeping her locked up? One part of our penal system that I completely disagree with is our insistence on solely doling out punishment as opposed to punishment and rehabilitation. Clearly we are doing something wrong when our recidivism rate is up there at the top of developed countries.

 

The bottom line to me is that a person who does what she done should never be allowed to live a free life and enjoy all the things that law abiding people do. She brutally murdered two innocent people and those people didn't get to live out their whole lives in freedom and neither should she. The whole thing about her being "under the control" of Manson and all that is just lawyer nonsense. She knew what she was doing. When I was 19 I knew not to stab a person over and over. When I was 9 I knew not to do that. She didn't get sent to prison to be rehabilitated. She got sent there to be punished and actually to be killed. Really they should have never been offered parole to start with in a case like this.

 

Here's the problem with your argument. You've never been brainwashed by a cult or been under the effects of copious amounts of LSD (although, being that you're a pastor an argument could be made for the cult thing).You don't seem to grasp the fact the punishment alone isn't enough. If it were we wouldn't have jails full of repeat offenders. Would you rather these people become productive members of society? People that can actually provide for their families, hold jobs etc etc etc or continue to spend hundreds of millions of dollars annually to keep locking them up?

 

In this case, I would rather spend the money to keep someone as evil as this woman locked in jail for the rest of her miserable life. If I go in to a courtroom and tell the judge that "everyone else was doing it" he will then say, if he's a good judge anyway, "well when everyone else is brought in to this courtroom I will give them the same judgement I'm about to give you". "Everyone else was doing it" or "the devil made me do it" is the oldest excuse in the book. It doesn't excuse what someone did. You're talking in generality but I'm just talking specifically. In this exact case do you think this woman should be freed? The victim's families have even started a petition to try and keep this woman in jail. Their wishes should be honored. Their family members don't get a second chance and neither should she.

 

I would be very much surprised if Van Houten is paroled. The crime she participated in was too heinous. There is no guarantee she will be a productive member of society. Having college degrees doesn't mean you're a person of high moral character. She has spent her entire adult life in prison and that life is all she knows.

How her attorney can say she presents no threat to society with a straight fact is beyond me. He can't guarantee that. She did participate in a murder, after all.

As far as the poster who basically alluded to people of religion as being considered cult-like, I take exception to that and find it highly offensive. I guess all fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers are cult-like, too, then. And that's all I have to say about that.

 

Fortunately, in our justice system what the family wants isn't worth a hill of beans. Have you actually looked into what she's said about the crime in question? It's nowhere near everyone else is doing it. As I said in the first post I'm torn on this one. She's spent almost 5 decades behind bars. I'm not sure what is gained by keeping her there or what kind of "life" she'll actually have if granted parole. She's got zero employment experience so any job she lands will more than likely minimum wage and will live in a rundown halfway house. In all honesty she would probably have a better quality of life behind bars.

 

I say when she gets out of jail she will write books and do interviews and she could make tons of money doing that. IF the governor lets her out. I've always been fascinated by this case and have watched a lot of interviews and things like that from these people. I know that she has since renounced Manson and all that but it doesn't change the fact that she done what she done. The LSD excuse is beyond ridiculous. To say that LSD will "make" you do this kind of stuff is insane. She didn't even say that herself. She said that she done this because of Vietnam. She made a choice to do what she done and she gets to live and die with that. The victim's daughter shouldn't have to live knowing that the murderer of her parents is flying around doing interviews and getting book deals. If not for a radical judge in CA this monster would have been killed long ago. You are absolutely right that there are problems with the criminal justice system. When someone can participate in stabbing a person 47 times, admit it, and then wind up getting parole there is a definite problem.

 

She'll get out and go marry Marilyn Manson. When Cali got rid of death penalty - those in line should have automatically become life without parole. She can continue to be a productive person in prison society - lots of needs there - her life would be torture on the outside (although subsidized even more than she is on the inside probably) - can you imagine her being a greeter at Walmart wearing a "Charlie Don't Surf" or "Helter Skelter" T- shirt? While BFT is right - she will be offered all kinds of interview and book deals - I believe Cali (surprise surprise) has a law prohibiting criminal felons (not civil cases) from capitalizing on their crimes. I don't see Gov Moonbeam signing her release papers - he has a few scruple cells remaining in his old body I think.

 

No one said LSD will make you do anything. However, if you don't think it severely alters perception(understatement of the century here) and opens people up to suggestion you're sorely mistaken. I'm going to assume you've never taken it(especially in large doses) so you can't begin to fathom it's effects. I would compare it to being in love. In that it doesn't matter how it is explained no one will understand or "get it" until they've experienced it. So you can read all the articles you want, but you'll never get it. You will always chalk it up to evil or a monster.

 

I know that drugs can alter the mind. That's the point of them. But she has said herself that she didn't do this because of LSD. I've never even smoked pot and certainly have not taken LSD. That's true. But the facts are that Van Houten actually asked to go with the group that night but ultimately was the one who started squealing and naming names and saying how everything went down. That would lead one to believe that she wasn't "under the influence" during the murder. Would you blame alcohol if an alcoholic had a wreck while they were sober? Because essentially that's what is happening here. Do you know people that have done very violent or even just simply very deliberate things under the influence of LSD? Or does it just make people almost sedated to the point that can't even hardly move? Does it keep a person in a state of impaired judgement or do they go back to normal when a dose wears off just like any other drug?

 

Getting personal in here. Deep breaths now.

 

Way too many questions in there? Have you ever heard of MKUltra? We spent 30 years using LSD,sleep deprivation, sexual abuse, torture etc with the ultimate goal of mind control. I'm just trying to give you an idea of how powerful that stuff is. We basically tried to use it as a weapon. Or at least a tool to create weapons. The whole alcoholic thing just furthers the point that you just don't grasp it. You can't. It's not just the drugs there's also the cult aspect. Look at the Jonestown Massacre or even scientology to get an idea of the power of a cult. Between those two things I can see how people were manipulated. Make no mistake Manson manipulated these people into doing these things. I just don't see it as cut and dry this woman is evil. Is she ultimately responsible for her actions? Yes, but nothing about it is black and white.

 

But it IS black and white from a "LEGAL" standpoint. The law isn't "If you kill someone at the behest of another then it's not really that bad". The law itself IS actually black and white and it doesn't make provision for people who are supposedly drug addicts or cult members or whatever. Murder actually is black and white and that's why it's easy to say that it's justifiable for this person to never be released. Do you also think it would be ok for Tex Watson to be released, along with the rest of the family? I actually have heard of that program you were talking about though.

 

Quit making **** up. No one is saying it isn't that bad.We're not discussing Watson or any other person. Stick to the topic at hand. People get paroled after a life sentence fairly frequently. Obviously far more frequently than you think. It's not just here or in CA. It happens all over the world. If she's actually been rehabilitated what is gained by keeping this woman behind bars?

 

Wasn't Watson "under mind control and LSD" as well? If you're gonna argue that she can be fixed by jail then it just seems logical that you must also think Watson and the others should as well. It seems like you're just saying that because of certain circumstances around the case then she should maybe be afforded some mercy and if that is the case then it seems you should feel the same about Tex Watson. To me they are equally guilty and equally responsible and therefore should equally be in prison for life.

 

The main case I can think of where a rapist was released was in AR where Huckabee commuted a guy's sentence and freed him and he raped AND killed again. The idea of "restorative justice" is just another loony idea that doesn't pan out. I agree that there's definitely waste and corruption in the system. Strummer is totally right about that in general. I just think in this specific case there's no grounds for restorative justice. It's also one thing to say that people with "life sentences" get parole all the time but in THIS case she got death and only a radical judge overturned it for a period and that's how it has led to this. Ultimately, she should have been killed long ago. That would have been actual justice in this case. So should Tex Watson and the rest of these animals.

 

Thanks to the "Bay Aryans" in this state, the death penalty was overturned and the "family's" convictions should have been automatic life without the possibility......Charlie will never get parole even though he didn't actually kill anyone. Why should someone that actually stabbed someone get parole? Since we're not allowed to give anyone the needle, I'm just as pleased as punch to have some of my tax money spent on keeping her behind bars.
I was in 7th grade when this all went down and remember wondering how someone as pretty as she was could kill anyone.
Moonbeam may not parole her, or he just might. I'm sure he's taken LSD himself back in the 60s. IF he does, we can hope she'll do her impression of Brooks from "Shawshank"!

 

Didn't Manson actually kill a dude at one point on the ranch or something like that? Like I was thinking there was an actual murder that he committed before the famous murders that they found out about later or something.

 

Supposedly, yes. But he wasn't charged for that one that I can recall.

 

For one Watson was responsible for the Tate murder(s) as well. Which VanHouten wasn't present for. Yet once again the topic(your topic) was Vanhouten and not Watson, Manson etc. You keep moving the goal posts. How does it seem logical when different people had different roles? The biggest of all being that Watson was involved in all the murders and correct me if I'm wrong responsible for the actual killing of these people. While VanHouten was there she stabbed a corpse and was forced to do that. It seems to me you like to use this great big brush and paint everything together while ignoring details that are actually relevant.

 

She wasn't "forced" to do anything because she actually asked to go along and actually held the woman down while Tex was stabbing her. She stabbed her 16 times herself and "some" of the wounds on her body were post mortem. Not all of them. I just don't see how it matters whether she only took place in one murder or not. If you're saying that Manson controlled her then the same argument has to be made for everyone else. In court it actually was made. It's not moving the goal post to ask if the other members of the family that helped in this murder shouldn't be held to the same standard. They are equally guilty in this instance and Van Houten maintains to this very day that LSD had nothing to do with it. I've actually seen videos where she tells it all in vivid detail and she remembers every single bit of it.

 

It's all the Beatles fault! If they hadn't come out with that damned white album..........