Susan Atkins, convicted murderer and former Charles Manson family member, is about to get her 18th shot at making parole. Many people think that she might actually be released this time, largely due to the fact that she is now paralyzed over 85 percent of her body. She has terminal brain cancer and will likely die over the next several months according to doctors. The question of her release is one that is part of a broader question. Should any of the Manson family members ever get out of jail? Moreover, should any of them even be offered the right to a parole hearing?
Susan Atkins, Charles “Tex” Watson, Patricia Krenwinkle, Leslie Van Houten, and others have been in prison for decades. Since the original sentence of death was commuted to a life sentence, they have each been up for parole multiple times. Each time one of them does, the crime is revisited all over again for family members of those that were murdered. How exactly is that justice?
Susan Atkins is the perfect example. Here is a woman that literally laughed as she described the dying breath of Sharon Tate, in spite of family members and the entire world watching in court. She had no mercy upon those murder victims whatsoever or the relationships that were left behind. Now, after years in prison, there is every possibility that she has been changed. Prison will change people sometimes. Sometimes they will find Christ, and manage to be completely converted from what they were when they committed their crimes. Tex Watson is now supposedly an ordained minister. Good for them. This does not mean, however, that they should be released. It does not even mean that they should be given parole hearings. They were given a life sentence. Period.
If the law had not changed, they would have been executed. These are not people that the law intended to receive parole hearings. These were murderers of the worst kind, and they are victimizing those families all over again every time they seek release from prison. Take Sharon Tate’s sister for example. Every single time one of Manson’s followers go up for parole, she has to go back through that murder all over again. She has to review it all, and show up for an impassioned plea on her sister’s behalf. This is not the way justice is supposed to look. Was the loss of her sister in such a horrible fashion not enough?
It is understood that this is how the parole system works. It is also understood that the parole system needs to change. If the parole system can allow a man like Charles Manson the right to be considered for release, then the system is broken. How is this not already fixed in our day and time? I feel for those that have lost loved ones to murderers and then had to watch as their killers stepped up for parole.
God knows these people have suffered enough.
