Charles Manson Follower OK'd For Parole-Leslie Van Houten

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A former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten OK'd for parole.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ex-manson-family-member-seeks-parole-1969-murder-053053558.html



She did admit to participating in the 2nd set of killings of the La Bianca's. So she has spent 46 years in prison, completed a college degree and doesn't have one violation. Her parole must be approved by the governor.

It should be noted she just wasn't there she actually 'secured' or held a victim down among other things.
 

I've read too much about the case to believe they won't overturn it. The LaBianca's daughter among others is appealing to the governor. It doesn't matter the good she's done, she can't bring back her victims. IMHO they should have executed all involved at the time.
 
As long as there are surviving relatives I don't think many if any of these killers will get parole even as a 80 year old, don't forget kids, grand kids will be younger and stand a much greater chance of making their parole hearings.

I will say they should use Van Houten as a before and after picture. She was only 19 when arrested for these murders and her aging should be used to show what life is prison does to the body and/or what one will look like decades in prison, no recapturing youth here even with surgery.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...66405c91c75142ed8055d0193084fd8co0&ajaxhist=0
 

I have mixed feelings about Van Houten's parole bid, and about capital punishment. Some crimes just cry out for immediate execution, for being so horrendous. The Manson Family murders were horrendous, but California's death sentence law was overturned, so "life without"...sentencing was what they got. I am glad that Timothy Mcveigh, the Oklahoma City bomber, was quickly executed. He did become a "martyr" for the wack-job militia groups, but his execution did serve notice to his confederates that their violence will not be tolerated.

Leslie Van Houten, along with her co-defendant Patricia Krenwinkel escaped the death penalty, have demonstrated remorse for their crimes, and have taken up very constructive activities while in prison.

I don't think that it will help or hurt the concept of justice if Van Houten is released; by the same token, if they both die in prison I don't think that will ease the pain of their victims living relatives one bit.
 
I agree Shalimar that far too many people are wrongfully imprisoned, never mind the ones who have been wrongly executed. I believe in the death penalty for people who have committed horrible crimes beyond all doubt. You know when you see a perp in court smiling? Those are the kind of animals that don't deserve life.
 
Butterfly said:
I think life without parole should mean life without parole.
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I frankly don't understand the logic in the apparent contradiction either.

I do know that for some inmates who have genuine remorse, and have become model prisoners, continued incarceration becomes pointless.

I know that for some inmates, the horror that they brought upon a victim does(and will continue to) haunt them, every day of their lives.

Some victims(or relatives of) can forgive, and just "let it go", and find closure from the violent incident.

Others who seeks 'closure' through continued punishment(ie:revenge) of/on the perpetrator never achieve peace in their heart(s)
 
tnthomas said:
I frankly don't understand the logic in the apparent contradiction either.

I do know that for some inmates who have genuine remorse, and have become model prisoners, continued incarceration becomes pointless.

I know that for some inmates, the horror that they brought upon a victim does(and will continue to) haunt them, every day of their lives.

Some victims(or relatives of) can forgive, and just "let it go", and find closure from the violent incident.

Others who seeks 'closure' through continued punishment(ie:revenge) of/on the perpetrator never achieve peace in their heart(s)
Click to expand...

I especially agree with prisoners need incentive to behave and reform. Other than an example to other criminals yes protracted incarceration can become pointless. They become institutionalized not only being told when to eat and sleep but live by an "acceptable" code in prison that doesn't fit out in society.

But there are certain lines one crosses even in murder that "life" should be mandated legally and socially. She held a pillow over a victim's head while they were stabbed. I guess a question would be who stabbed the victim first or delivered the fatal blow. If she wasn't the one I would give her parole continued consideration. But there are no time machines or take backs in life period, not just for crime but people in general have to remember after certain acts, events and/or behaviors that's it, no take backs and live with the consequences. If the family would forgive or ok her parole I would also consider her parole.

I will say it was noted that many of the relatives now listen to parole hearings by phone and have stopped listening to her when she gives details of the crimes/murders. Maybe the family is at the point where they just want to move on.
 
So far, I have been blessed that I have not experienced the horror of losing a loved one to murder. I cannot even imagine the pain that would cause, nor predict how that would affect my perception of Life; I hope I never find out.
 
I know about this type of thing from both sides. No matter what happens no one is ever the same again after something like this. As mentioned in another post, my brother is in prison for murdering four people, in cold blood. My family and I knew two of the people who were murdered. They were good people. I'm including a link to what happened and why I feel the way I do. I wrote this a number of years ago. The book mentioned in the piece is no longer in print. I'm about to re-release it under another title, and restoring some of what the publisher ripped out. Here's the link to the article. http://www.whereartmeetstheheart.com/mybrother.shtml
 
Butterfly said:
Phoenix, I'm so sorry for the suffering you and your family have endured.
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Me too.

I knew a really nice boy in high school. He liked me and came from a really loving family. He met up with a really rotten older guy and started getting into all kinds of trouble with the law because of his poor judgemen and the older guy's bad influence. Eventually, they commited murder 1 and got caught and sent to prison. He was just 19 when he went to prison. Just like Leslie Van Houten and for the same reasons too, I think. There are many sides to an issue like this.
 
Here is an excerpt from near the end of the article ...this schoolhouse called earth...

To me that means life in general is a test. Not all will pass and others will pass anyway they can. The reality is not all will pass and that includes leading a crime free life as a perpetrator. One can try to help someone correct mistakes but there is no guarantee to a good or desired outcome. That means you go on to the next question because they will keep on coming until the grave.
 
Thank you all for your support. This awful event taught me more than anything else in my life. For the lessons I learned I am grateful. But I learned that when I needed it, no would would be there. I was the battery the people I cared about drew from, but none of them put anything back. They didn't even address it. I supported my parents. They were good people and overwhelmed by it all. I had to seek out support from strangers, and that support was sporadic.

When my rewrite of the book is done, is there anywhere on this site that would be appropriate to list it? I'm not here to market anything, but with all the rampant violence and mass killings, I want to present the other side of the story, so people understand there are victims on both sides. One set of the family members of the people my brother killed thought of coming into the courthouse and shooting my brother where he sat. Understandable, but my parents were there to testify against their son. Dad had a bad heart. He would have had a heart attack and died on the spot. My brother's kids were there to testify. The kids of the people my brother killed were there to testify. They all would have been further damaged. It's so easy to say that we want to shoot someone who has killed, but in so doing we would cause more problems than we solve. I seek to create understanding. This kind of thing is my life's purpose - a purpose I did not find until after the murders. I was 30 at the time. It destroyed me. I had to rebuild myself from scratch. I have PTSD from it. I recently had someone who I thought was a friend trigger that PTSD. I felt rejected all over again. I started to shake and entered two days of depression. When I told her she had triggered it, she did not apologize, she turned away. Long story that I don't need to share here, but I will say, when you think of judging someone was horrible and what you would like to do to them, remember they have family who cares. You would be destroying those people too. Kind and caring people do not do that to the innocent.
 
Do you have a publisher already? I ask because a friend of mine from a creative writing group spent 5 years writing a true crime book and when submitted for pulication it was rejected solely on the basis that she didn't have a degree in Lit. or journalism.
To answer your question, I don't know much about where you could advertise something like that here, but Facebook would be a good place to do it. Like it or not, FB is good for doing business. You get lots of exposure there.
 
Most books get rejected literally hundreds of times before they are accepted and usually not for the reasons the publisher/agent provides. Mostly a person doesn't hear back at all. I've been writing since 1981 and submitting things since 1984. I will go to Facebook when it's time, but I hate to do it. Facebook sells our info to others and makes us vulnerable to all kinds of digital/cyber attacks, including identity theft. They change the rules whenever they want. That is not good for the user. But they are in it to make money. And it certainly has made one little boy rich. I don't have a publisher for it this time around. My agent is dying, so I've been looking for a new one. Every time I send a query to an agent, I have to adapt it to what they want and that reopens the wounds. I'm not going to do that anymore. I decided to use Smashwords. That way no one else will rape it, like they did the first time. Thanks.
 

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