Manson Follower Up for Parole for 19th Time

Leslie Van Houten, the one-time Charles Manson follower long seen as the most likely of his ex-acolytes to win freedom someday, faces her 19th parole hearing on Tuesday with a new lawyer and new case law which may give her the best chance yet for release.
Van Houten, 60, remains incarcerated at the California Institution for Women at Frontera, the same prison where another Manson follower, Patricia Krenwinkle, is imprisoned. She has been in prison since the early 70's.
Van Houten was convicted of murder and conspiracy for her role in the slayings of the wealthy grocers, Leno and Rosemary La Bianca.
The La Biancas were stabbed to death in August 1969, one night after Manson's followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others including celebrity hairdresser Jay Sebring, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, filmmaker Voityck Frykowksi and Steven Parent, a friend of the Tate estate's caretaker.
Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings but went along the next night when the La Biancas were slain in their home. During the penalty phase of her trial she confessed to joining in stabbing Mrs. La Bianca after she was dead.

Her new lawyer hopes to be successful in part by new rulings affecting standards for parole. They indicate that a prisoner should not be refused parole is he/she is not deemed a danger to public and the other deals with inmates who are between 16 and 20-years-old at the time of their crimes and holds that they are more likely to be rehabilitated. Van Houten was 19 years old when she commited the murders.

Her chances for parole are enhanced by the fact that she has been discipline free since her incarceration in the early 1970s, has positive psychological reports and has been active in self-help groups at the prison.

Well it seems to me that we hear lots of stories in the news of other murderers getting parole in the US and Canada. She has spent 40 years in prison while we hear of others getting out much earlier, ie Karla Homalka, who only spent 12 years in prison here in Canada.

I will admit that the murder of the La Bianca's was a horrorible crime for sure, but if all evidence points to her no longer being a danger, then why keep her in prison after 40 years?
We also hear lots of stories in the news about prison overcrowding and the costs associated with that, particularly in the US.

Even if there is a finding of suitability for parole at the hearing, freedom would not be immediate. The entire state parole board would review the decision within 120 days and it would then be submitted to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger for a final ruling.