Former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten, released from prison

[KJJ]

What’s everyone’s opinion on Leslie Van Houten being released? She spent 53 years in prison. She did take part in the murders, but was brainwashed by Manson. Part of me says she should spend the rest of her life in prison, but there’s another part that says she did pay a heavy price and deserves a second chance, because of the influence Manson had over her.

https://www.latimes.com/california/...member-leslie-van-houten-released-from-prison

 

[Big_D]

What a crock.. she should've died in prison. There should be no freedom at all after what they did.

 

[Runwildboys]

Are there any circumstances in which a person who violently and wantonly murdered someone doesn't deserve to die in prison?

Insanity? Maybe, if the person was subsequently cured.

LSD? I've been on it, and never had the desire to hurt anyone. But not all people react the same. I never had my brain poisoned by Charles Manson, so maybe that should be taken into serious consideration.

Only the people who have a very good sense of who she was and who she is are qualified to decide her fate, IMO.

 

[timb2]

I like what happened to her in " Once Upon a Time in Hollywood".

 

[BrAinPaiNt]

Is it wrong that I do not care if she stayed in forever or got out after fifty plus years?

 

[KJJ]

She’s going to be entering a different world than the one she left in 1970. She’s going to be spending a year in a halfway house trying to adjust to the outside world. She’s going to have to learn how to use the Internet and a cell phone. It’s going to be very difficult for her to get a job and she’s going to be facing a lot of sneerers in public. She could make some money writing a book. Entering prison at age 20 and leaving at age 73 has to feel weird. Close to 70 years is the longest anyone’s spent in prison before being released.

 

[ESisback]

Are there any circumstances in which a person who violently and wantonly murdered someone doesn't deserve to die in prison?

Insanity? Maybe, if the person was subsequently cured.

LSD? I've been on it, and never had the desire to hurt anyone. But not all people react the same. I never had my brain poisoned by Charles Manson, so maybe that should be taken into serious consideration.

Only the people who have a very good sense of who she was and who she is are qualified to decide her fate, IMO.

Mental illness is a judgement call. Speaking of which, the local PJG had our Midsummer Nude Bake Sale! Now, it was just three fat guys in thongs in lawn chairs, a case or two of Brownies and Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies, and a coffee can in front of the CVS, but it was fun! Reports of painful BM’s, and a visit from Smokey, but we made $7.49 and got a few wolf whistles!✊

 

[Tabascocat]

She should have been executed there…..

 

[Runwildboys]

Mental illness is a judgement call. Speaking of which, the local PJG had our Midsummer Nude Bake Sale! Now, it was just three fat guys in thongs in lawn chairs, a case or two of Brownies and Little Debbie Oatmeal Pies, and a coffee can in front of the CVS, but it was fun! Reports of painful BM’s, and a visit from Smokey, but we made $7.49 and got a few wolf whistles!✊

Those wolves must have been starving!

 

[big dog cowboy]

It’s going to be very difficult for her to get a job and she’s going to be facing a lot of sneerers in public. She could make some money writing a book.

How is she going to get a job at 73? My guess is she does write a book or do a bunch of TV interviews for money. Then in a few years watch for a movie. In 5 years she will have more money than the vast majority of Americans.

 

[gtb1943]

There is no second chance for a murderer; there never should be.

Unless her victims got a second chance.

No other way it should happen.

 

[Creeper]

I feel strongly that any person who takes a life should forfeit their own life either in prison without parole or by execution. The murders committed by VanHouten and her gang were gruesome, evil, depraved, and without feeling or remorse. No one like that should ever walk the streets as a free person again.

The measurement should not be how a convict behaves as a prisoner, it is how they behaved when they were part of society.

 

[Big_D]

They killed 7 people on a 3 day spree including a pregnant woman. That's not something you rehab from. There's no excuses at that point. Every last one of them should've fried. I don't care what kind of hold Charles Manson had at their hippie commune. And there was zero remorse at the time.

 

[rags747]

She was only involved in the Rosemary LaBianca murder evidently. She did stab LaBianca 16 times in the back though. Work? There are plenty of ”Feel Good” Non Profit organizations that will put her on the payroll I’m sure.

 

[Hardline]

She will still be mentally in prison.

These walls are funny. First you hate 'em, then you get used to 'em. Enough time passes, you get so you depend on them. That's institutionalized.

The Shawshank Redemption

 

[ESisback]

Those wolves must have been starving!

Desperate times, desperate measures!

 

[ESisback]

Desperate times, desperate measures!

Runny, this board needs some nonsense, some brevity, some irreverence. Haters vs. Homers, with Trolls stirring the pot! The CZ needs the PJG, PDQ!

 

[KJJ]

How is she going to get a job at 73? My guess is she does write a book or do a bunch of TV interviews for money. Then in a few years watch for a movie. In 5 years she will have more money than the vast majority of Americans.

There’s actually a lot of jobs out there for people over 70. They have job centers. Most of them are part time but there’s job opportunities out there. However, with her notoriety writing a book and TV interviews are about the only way she’s going to make any money. Once she gets out of that halfway house, finding a place to live is going to be difficult. Something may be set up to help her. She may still have family out there or some friends that could help her.

 

[KJJ]

They killed 7 people on a 3 day spree including a pregnant woman. That's not something you rehab from. There's no excuses at that point. Every last one of them should've fried. I don't care what kind of hold Charles Manson had at their hippie commune. And there was zero remorse at the time.

Someone who’s 19 and on drugs, and is being brainwashed by a maniac can be rehabbed. She wouldn’t have been released from prison if they didn’t think she was fit to be released. The thing with her is she admitted right from the very start she was part of it. She never denied taking part in the murder of Rosemary LaBianca. She held her down while others stabbed her. Then she stabbed her after she was dead. She was told to stab her. Like I said in the OP, I’m mixed about her being released. Susan Atkins is a different story she deserved to die in prison. Sharon Tate begged for her life and she still killed her and her unborn baby. She then lied for years claiming Tex Watson killed her. It took years before she ever confessed to it.

 

[KJJ]

I feel strongly that any person who takes a life should forfeit their own life either in prison without parole or by execution. The murders committed by VanHouten and her gang were gruesome, evil, depraved, and without feeling or remorse. No one like that should ever walk the streets as a free person again.

The measurement should not be how a convict behaves as a prisoner, it is how they behaved when they were part of society.

I agree with you, however she was only a teenager who had drugs and Charles Manson inside her head. He had everyone under his spell. There’s some people that are just cold-blooded killers, it’s in their DNA. They’ve released murderers like that only to have them kill again. At least Van Houten had a reasonable excuse for the crime she committed. Charles Manson was one of the most infamous monsters to ever walk the planet, because he knew how to take control of young people by using drugs, and his influence to get them to do what he wanted. The 60s was a turbulent time back then with LSD. The era was marked by the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War and antiwar protests, countercultural movements, political assassinations and the emerging "generation gap."