Susan Atkins will stay in prison.

[ronnykmarshall]

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gPEaudS_lS_tnlNi3-I1WezJD6WwD91UIIU81

[madeline_con]

1. Where she should die. n/t

[Political Heretic]

2. hmm... I dunno.... kind of think they should have done it.

But then, I'm not much on retributive justice anyway. She's not a danger to anyone, she's debilitated, in fact she's dying. Grant the request I feel.

[ZinZen]

18. I so disagree

This is the woman who stabbed Sharon Tate, tasted her blood and wrote PIG with blood on her door. Atkins has never expressed any remorse whatsoever for her crimes, and next to Tex Watson is probably the most disturbed of Manson's crew. Those crimes were horrible and she made the choice to become a killer.

Ironically, she probably would have gotten out years ago if this case were not so high profile.

[Political Heretic]

19. she probably would have gotten out years ago if this case were not so high profile.

Which, given her circumstances, is all the more reason to release her.

But as I said before, I'm not particularly big on retributive justice. She's not a danger to anyone, and she's dying, so let her go and save me (the taxpayer) the expense.

[book_worm]

3. I'm against the death penalty but favor life w/o parole for cold blooded murder

and that is where people who do that type of crime should die--in prison.

[aikoaiko]

14. Thank you -- if anti-DP folks want to convince pro-DP folks like me that life in prison means life

then I need to see those same people support Atkins staying in prison until dead.

[upi402]

20. me too

i don't care how Jesused-up they get

[BlueJazz]

4. I would have voted for her release.

[madeline_con]

7. Why?

And I'm not trying to start a problem, I'd really like to know your thoughts on this. Is it because she's older, or dying, or what?

IOW, is your leniency due to her medical condition, and would you feel the same way about someone who wasn't sick?

[BlueJazz]

15. I feel she's been punished enough. ...and that would apply to anybody.

I suppose my feelings stem from the fact that I believe anybody who commits a crime is mentally fucked-up (scientific term).
...and if they are mentally screwed, why don't we fix the problem instead of spending millions of dollars to house them...I mean,
this is the twenty-first century...Why haven't we explored the reasons WHY people are socially screwed up?

I guess, I feel that someday we (scientists) will be able to change brain patterns and behavior but we'll never get to that point if we keep spending all the dough on prisons ...

[madeline_con]

27. You seem to assume everyone CAN be "fixed".

Atkins aside, some of the mentally fucked up are beyond redemption. I haven't seen a cure for pedophilia, for instance. Mark Dean Schwab (who was executed here in FL on July 1) killed Juny Rios Martinez after being released from prison for raping another child.

I don't put much faith in fixing some people. Edit: I don't think counseling in jail would have cnanged the outcome of Juny's death.

[Warpy]

12. She's no threat to anyone at this point

and it would be cheaper to keep her in a hospice than in prison.

[panader0]

5. What I hate about the penal system is that it costs so much

to incarcerate one person for one year. I'm not sure on the numbers, but I have heard that it's around 50 grand here in AZ. More in California I'm sure. Hell, that's twice what I make. I went to jail 4 years ago for 2 days (DUI) and had to pay $75 a day for the accomodations. (One inch mattress, white bread, no shower, but what ambiance)

[snappyturtle]

6. I think she should be released. Keeping her three more months or

to her death will do nothing to advance her debt to society payment. Three more months of tax dollars spent to accomplish...what? If we're truly a civilized people I think it's more than time to release a woman who is no threat to society. Hell, our president has had thousands killed and he's no where close to serving a day.

[madeline_con]

8. Who will house her, and pay her medical?

Is it really cost effective to let her out?

[Bluebear]

13. Who will pay her medical in prison?

[book_worm]

10. They can't release somebody who is dying and expect them to be without medical care or a place to

live. The tax payer will still be paying to support her in one way or another.

[TechBear_Seattle]

9. The irony is that if she were released, her necessary medical treatments would end

While a "guest" of the California Department of Corrections, the state is obligated to provide necessary and proper medical care. If she were released, that obligation would cease.

[tammywammy]

11. She shouldn't have been released.

She'll serve out her life sentence.

[RNdaSilva]

16. Deservedly so...

[CreekDog]

17. there's a long line of people more deserving of a break than her

"...she confessed her participation in the Tate/LaBianca murders, for example telling the women that she stabbed Tate and that she had tasted Tate's blood. They subsequently reported her statements to the authorities.<11> This, combined with information from other sources, led to the arrest of Atkins and others involved in the Tate/LaBianca murders (Van Houten, Krenwinkel, Kasabian and Watson).

Atkins agreed to testify for the prosecution in exchange for the prosecution not seeking the death penalty, and she then testified before the grand jury as to what had transpired on the nights of August 8 and 9, 1969.<12>.

Atkins told the grand jury that she stabbed Frykowski in the legs and that she held Tate down while Watson stabbed her. She also testified that Tate had pleaded for her life and that of her unborn child, to which Atkins replied, "Woman, I have no mercy for you." She also denied her earlier statement to Howard and Graham that she had tasted Tate's blood. Prior to the trial, Atkins discontinued her cooperation with the prosecution and repudiated her grand jury testimony, although years later she would state that this testimony was truthful and accurate as to what transpired in the Tate home.

Atkins has claimed over the years that her participation in the crimes led by Manson was passive and that she didn't actually kill anyone. However, in her grand jury testimony she admitted to active participation in the crimes."

from the article at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Atkins

[MonkeyFunk]

21. That's sad news

but I imagine she expected it.

[ronnykmarshall]

25. I have mixed feelings.

There was a time when I just despised Susan Atkins. Now I kind of shock myself that I feel sorry for her. I don't getting "released" would have been much difference. The doctors treating her say that she will not leave the hospital she is in. She NOT in a prison hospital but a local hospital in either Coran or maybe Hanford.

[tyedyeto]

22. Life in prison is just that.... LIFE Not life until you have some .........

life-threatening disease. I'm anti-DP and feel she should serve her time = a life sentence. That's what she received from our justice system and that is what she should be serving. She should die where we, the people who tried her for her horrendous crimes, sent her.

[Spangle]

23. She was given a death sentence

Parole shouldn't have even been considered for such persons. Yet she has asked 12 times. A death sentence means just that. To death. As such, she hasn't paid for her crime. That will only happen when she dies, in the system.

While this is hard on her friends and loved ones, they should remember they got to 'have' her for years, when she should have all ready been dead. She shouldn't have gotten the chance to live at all. She was sentenced to die.

Society is doing away with the death sentence in favor of life in prison. In order for that to work, folks should DIE in prison. The biggest argument against ending death sentences, is that such folks will be allowed to some day be free. If society knows that such folks WILL be set free, they will want to go back to the death sentence.

[ronnykmarshall]

24. Excellent points

[cobalt1999]

26. Exactly why I still support the Death Penalty.

After a long time, the victims and the victims family are forgotten, add in a sob story, and the judicial system is ready to release the person.

No way victims or their families should ever have to worry about someone being released or having to testify in front of a parole board every few years.

When "Life" really means "Life", then I might change my mind on the DP.