This debate comes down to assessing why we have a criminal justice system. Is it to deter crime, or to administer punishment, or exact revenge, or to rehabilitate people, or a combination of all of those? Which of those purposes does the continued incarceration of a dying inmate satisfy?
It could be a combination, except for the 'revenge' part.
As Don Corleone would tell you, revenge and justice are two different things.
True, it's pretty complicated in this day & age. In the case of Susan Atkins and her co-defendants, we have a criminal justice system to administer punishment for a crime so horrible it is still legend almost 40 years later.
The 'continued incarceration of a dying inmate' satisfies justice. After all, her original death sentence was commuted to LIFE in prison. That means the rest of her life in prison. I will try to have a little more compassion for her than she did for Sharon Tate & her unborn baby. But I still don't think she should be released.
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