Opinion: Susan Atkins to stay in prison
This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.
AP reports that the state parole board today ruled against letting the terminally ill former Manson family member out of prison during the final months of her life, as the editorial board urged last month. The board struck a careful balance between its official opposition to the death penalty and its belief that Atkins should stay incarcerated:
Our system of justice attempts three noble aims: punishment, protection of society and deterrence (some would add rehabilitation). Atkins poses no physical threat to society. Her sentence and time in prison undoubtedly have sent a deterrent message to any would-be Mansonite still lurking out there. And she may well have been rehabilitated: While serving her sentence, Atkins has written a book, explored religions, taught classes. Has she been punished? Yes, of course; 37 years is not trivial. But Atkins gravely wounded our collective peace, and society has the right, even the obligation, to exact vengeance. For some criminals, including Atkins, the crime is so great that the price should be imprisonment until death.
The editorial also noted that the board once broke its anti-execution stance by urging the death penalty be imposed on Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh. For more on the editorial board’s death penalty stance, check out this Cold Copy, which takes up everyone from Ethel and Julius Rosenberg to Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams.
*Photo of Susan Atkins in 1969, courtesy Associated Press.