# Leslie Van Houten recommended for parole **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 15, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272 "2016-04-15T14:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/1 "2016-04-15T14:42:17Z")
News [https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/board-recommends-parole-for-charles-manson-follower#.sl4wAnwo0](https://www.buzzfeed.com/claudiakoerner/board-recommends-parole-for-charles-manson-follower#.sl4wAnwo0) I used to say she should die in prison, but John Waters actually changed my mind on the topic for reasons gone into at length in this [Long Great Debare Thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=374795&page=5) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/2 "2016-04-15T14:45:31Z")
Leave her there. She committed a terroristic act of murder. If she had a terminal illness I’d say let her out, just to save the state some money. Otherwise, let her die in jail. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/3 "2016-04-15T15:11:19Z")
Let her out whenever her buddy Chuck is released. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/4 "2016-04-15T16:36:03Z")
This is not a person who can ever, EVER return to society. I hope she finds remorse, connection with God, forgiveness and peace. But she stays where she is. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/5 "2016-04-15T16:45:29Z")
The people she murdered are still dead. So she should still be in prison. ---
**Author:** ![lost4life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c4cdca/32.png) [@lost4life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lost4life)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/6 "2016-04-15T17:30:33Z")
Are we talking about Milhouse’s mom? Did she finally kill Kirk? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/7 "2016-04-15T21:37:03Z")
Some people can reform. I think she is one of them. People who have committed far worse crimes have been let out in far fewer years. It seemed unfair that other Mansonites did less prison time while she got stuck in prison. Squeaky Fromme has been out of jail several years and she _almost shot a President_ as well as participating in other crimes. Sandra Good didn’t do much time for her various (known) crimes. Both are unrepentant Manson followers. To have a judicial system who treats people differently based on how much press coverage their crime received is wrong. The press is _extremely_ far from being an impartial judge of which crimes are more notable than others. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/8 "2016-04-15T23:20:46Z")
What would those ‘far worse’ crimes be? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2016, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/9 "2016-04-15T23:22:23Z")
Neither Goode nor Fromme were convicted of killing anyone, so their sentences were lighter and it was easier to make parole. It’s got nothing to do with media coverage. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/10 "2016-04-16T00:03:18Z")
She should get out of prison when the La Bianca’s walk the earth again. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/11 "2016-04-16T00:05:41Z")
The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: ‘T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown: His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty, Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway; It is enthronèd in the hearts of kings, It is an attribute to God himself; And earthly power doth then show likest God’s When mercy seasons justice. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/12 "2016-04-16T00:06:11Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The people she murdered are still dead. So she should still be in prison. > [@Baker](#): > > She should get out of prison when the La Bianca’s walk the earth again. That is an argument that can be addressed to the Legislature of California. However, the law under which she was sentenced apparently allows for parole for individuals convicted of murdering others. It would be inappropriate for the parole board to rule that a person convicted of murder could never be released, because that would be circumventing the law enacted by the Legislature. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/13 "2016-04-16T00:10:13Z")
The reality is most people convicted of murder will probably get parole after a few decades in prison. We had a lady shot by her bf around 1987. He was out by 2000. That case involved an argument that escalated into murder. She’s served what? 45 years at least? She should be treated no differently than other prisoners. Give her parole, and release to a half-way house. See how she does. I’m not entirely happy with that outcome. But you can’t release other murders and then make an exception of her. She wasn’t at the Tate house. She was convicted for the LaBianca killings. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/14 "2016-04-16T00:52:13Z")
I’ve seen interviews with her. She comes across as very sane and very remorseful. She was really young when she participated in the Manson murders. I realize it was a gonzo-whopper of a bad decision, but people make bad decisions when they are 19-22, and most people are just lucky enough not to have the “opportunity,” if you want to call it that, to join in someone else’s murder spree. I agree that it’s not fair to deny her parole when other people who committed similar or worse crimes would get it, just because of the publicity her crime generated. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/15 "2016-04-16T00:58:44Z")
I’m not saying Van Houten should be getting special treatment. As far as I’m concerned, life imprisonment should be the normal sentence for murder. I feel it’s proportionate. If you murder somebody you take away the rest of their life. So you should spend the rest of your life in prison. You should get as many days of walking around a free person as your victim will get. ---
**Author:** ![smokey78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@smokey78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smokey78)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/16 "2016-04-16T01:31:29Z")
guess this was why news of the Manson family was on People Magazine’s site today. As an aside, Greer Grammer just played her recently in a Lifetime movie about the Manson girls. Would be uncanny if Leslie ever got out and went to meet her to tell her what she thought of her portrayal. And as really freaky randomness, Greer’s Aunt Karen (yes, Kelsey’s sister) was raped and murdered forty years ago in Colorado. Kelsey has made sure every single time her murderer was up for parole over the decades that he stayed in jail. He was about 21 when he killed her. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/17 "2016-04-16T01:37:05Z")
I’m not American, but I would consider eternal vengeance to be a poor use of my taxpayer dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/18 "2016-04-16T01:57:18Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I’m not American, but I would consider eternal vengeance to be a poor use of my taxpayer dollars. I don’t see it as vengeance. I see it as paying the fair price for what you did. If you commit a crime like robbing a bank I can see how you can make that up. But I don’t see how you can make it up to your victim when you kill them. People can say _“Well, I was 18 and stupid and on drugs when I killed that person. And now I’m really sorry and I wish I hadn’t done it. Please give me a second chance.”_ Can we give your victim a second chance? No. Then I don’t see why you should get one. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/19 "2016-04-16T02:08:30Z")
She’s probably so institutionalized that she could not make it outside of the prison system. I’ll bet she’d return to the front door and ask to be readmitted. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2016, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272/20 "2016-04-16T02:26:14Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > She’s probably so institutionalized that she could not make it outside of the prison system. I’ll bet she’d return to the front door and ask to be readmitted. Has a specific humanitarian rights group been advocating for her release? They may have a plan ready to help her entry back into society. Regardless, I imagine it would be very overwhelming. I’d rather see her succeed than fail. Manson triggered such tragedy in so many lives. The innocent victims and the mixed up young adults he conned & manipulated into murdering in his name If even one life can be turned around then that’s a positive step. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/leslie-van-houten-recommended-for-parole/752272.md?page=2)