Why Diane Downs should not be granted Parole.

By Dafne Lazaro, Jacqueline Leal & Keyna Morales

English 1011- Mrs. Rivera
First Period Fall 2018
 In 1983, County Lane, Oregon was struck with the notorious case of Diane Downs and
the mysterious attack on her 3 children by a “bushy-haired stranger” on a dark country road.
Throughout an intense police investigation, Diane’s story and reenactment did not match the
forensic findings of blood and bullet marks in the scene of the crime. On February 28, 1984,
Diane Downs was arrested for the murder of Cheryl Lynn Downs. During the trial, the
prosecution argued that Downs shot and attempted to murder her three children in order to make
herself available to Robert Knickerbocker, her ex-lover. Diane Downs was convicted guilty and
was sentenced to fifty years in prison. To this day, she continues to pledge her innocence.
On December 10, 2010, Diane Downs faced her second parole hearing and was denied
parole. Under a new law, she will not be eligible for parole until 2020. An analysis of Diane
Down’s psychological diagnosis’, the facts that led to her arrest and the time she spent in prison,
makes it evident that Diane Downs should not be granted parole. For example, Diane’s
psychological disorders leave little room for improvement on her behavior, her murderous
behavior poses a danger for society and the time she has spent in prison will prevent her from
regaining a normal life.
The personality disorders that Diane Downs was diagnosed with at the time of the trial
are difficult to treat, leaving no room for improvement. Officially, she was diagnosed with
histrionic personality disorder, antisocial personality disorder, and narcissistic personality
disorder. According to WebMD (2018), people with histrionic personality disorder have intense,
unstable emotions and warped self-images. Their overwhelming desire to be noticed often relates
to dramatic or attention seeking inappropriate behavior. She has already made the most
self-centered decision of putting her wants and lust before her children, which is an example of
not thinking before acting.
As stated on ​Mayo Clinic (2017),​ an antisocial personality disorder is a mental condition
in which a person shows no regard for right or wrong and feelings of others. They are known to
lie, behave violently or impulsive, do not follow the law, and are prone to abuse or neglect their
spouse and children. ​ ​Ms. Downs shouldn’t be allowed to leave prison when she has no guilt or
remorse for violating the law in the most inhumane way. This is demonstrated through her
continuous denial to the accusations of which she was sentenced for. In addition, narcissistic
personality has no known treatment; which means that there is no concise way to improve her
condition. This is especially difficult in of her current whereabouts. Complications she had
experienced included suicidal thoughts and behavior. Diane would not benefit from any
treatment offered to her since she still denies her struggle with her mental health in general. To
reiterate, although some of her personality disorders are semi-treatable, it depends on the person
to be willing to accept help, but Diane Downs is not willing to change her ways for her benefit
nor for society.
Would you trust a murderous woman out in the street? A woman that denied killing her
own children and made up an entire story just to cover her tracks. What is public safety? Public
safety refers​ to the welfare and protection of the general public. Would you feel protected or
happy with this woman walking freely on the streets? Who says she will not commit something
like this again. Becky Babcock is the daughter of Diane Down that was born during her trial;
since then she was put through the foster care system. Later in her life, Becky decided to write
letters to Diane to introduce herself and to ask about her biological father. If Diane was a normal
mother who lost her daughter to child services then she would be more excited to write nice
comments to back. At first, she did, but then as they wrote back and forth more, Becky was able
to read the tension that Diane had when being asked simple questions. Becky didn't enjoy writing
to Diane anymore; she states, "I asked her to stop writing at one point—this was after she told
me people had been watching me my whole life and were trying to kill me—and at that point,
she then accused me of being one trying to kill her "( Becky, 2010). Since Diane Downs spoke
to her own blood, who says she wouldn’t threaten a stranger out on the street if she’s given
parole. How are you going to feel safe knowing that maybe someone is watching your every
move? As you can tell Diane is still not in the right state of mind being that she is accusing
Becky of trying to kill her. You can’t let a person out on parole if they’re not safe for the
community.
After serving 36 years in prison, Diane Downs will have spent more than half of her life
in prison meaning that she is more accustomed to life behind bars rather than in the external
world. In each prison facility there exists a code of conduct set by prison administrators,
however, in a rebellion to that code there exists the “inmate code” otherwise known as the
“convict code.”This code is defined as a list of rules set by a governing group of convicts that
mandates all inmates to obey their rules and to disregard all others set by the guards in order to
be respected. According to Paul R. Miller (2006), a writer for the American Journal of
Psychiatry, “​The prison code is the epitome of the destructive anti-rehabilitative elements of
most prison societies.” It is believed that through this lifestyle inmates will refuse to cooperate
with prison officers and diminish their chances at rehabilitation while serving their time. In
consequence of this, it has been observed how parolees fail to complete parole successfully
because they lack parole supervision specifically on treatment programs. According to the
Journal of ​Justice and Crime​ by Joan Petersilia (1999), a writer for The University of Chicago
Press Journals, about half of the failed parolees return as a third of the incoming prisoners. For
Diane, this would mean a less likely chance at following her instructed medication care, and any
rules set by the parole board if she were granted parole.
The effects of prison on Diane Downs would be more significant because of her lack of
support. Due to the fact that her three remaining children wish to never see their mother again
and to live a private life, Diane Downs has no family support. According to the staff of Simmons
(2016), a school of social work, ​“Studies have shown that prisoners who maintain consistent
contact and connection with their families during their sentences have a lower recidivism rate
than those who do not.” This fact would imply that Diane will most likely experience recidivism
and return to prison very quickly. Overall, the impact of the 36 years that Diane Downs has spent
in prison will make her experience as a parolee very difficult and most likely to not succeed.
 In conclusion, you are able to see that Diane Downs first put herself before her children
which shows that she has a histrionic personality disorder. In normal circumstances, a mother
would always put her child first before themselves. But in this case, Diane denied any
accusations they had on her for this case. With also having an antisocial personality disorder and
narcissistic personality Diane has the possibility to change with treatment and the right care but
she chooses not to since she believes that she did nothing wrong. Diane should not be outside in
the community where she could be endangering civilians.
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