Should Charles Manson Be Eligible Parole? – Survey of the Day

He is the most notorious mass murderer imprisoned in the US, perhaps the world. Next Wednesday, Charles Manson faces his 12th parole hearing. It could be his last because California state law now allows a denial of parole for up to 15 years. Manson, who is now 77 years 0ld, chance of being released is nil and he has told his jailers that he doesn't plan to attend the hearing. My question, why is he even eligible for parole? How do you feel? 

In the latest photo released by the California Department of Corrections, the 77-year-old Manson is gray-haired and gray-bearded, a shadow of the shaggy haired, wild-eyed killer whose visage glared from the covers of magazines in 1969.

He was a cult leader back then, the domineering force behind a rag-tag family of followers who said they killed for him. Manson was found guilty in seven murders, including the killing of actress Sharon Tate, that stunned the world. Later, he was convicted in two other killings. His trial with three women acolytes was a spectacle that drew international attention. Manson was depicted as the evil master of murder, commanding a small army of young followers. He and the three women were sentenced to death. A 1972 ruling by the California Supreme Court found the state's death penalty law at the time unconstitutional and his death sentence was changed in 1977 to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Now after 11 failed bids for freedom, Manson gets another try. The parole board rejected his bid in 2007, saying Manson "continues to pose an unreasonable danger to others and may still bring harm to anyone he would come in contact with." Manson refused to participate in that hearing, describing himself as a "prisoner of the political system." He also declined to participate in any psychological evaluations in 2007.