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"Letting someone out of prison after a long term of incarceration and making him register as a sex offender destroys any chance of his obtaining a decent job and being too busy working to re-offend; it only gives him a sentence of poverty, idleness, frustration, alcoholism, community scorn and other things not likely to lead to law abiding behavior."

It seems to me the focus is misplaced on the perpetrator. The well-being of the criminal should not be the issue. Society needs to protect itself especially in these cases where recidivism borders on certainty. Prison? OK. Castration? Even better! Death penalty? Fine with me! Just remove him/her from society until he/she is no longer a threat to another child.

Life sentences, death sentences or even castration may indeed have merit, but those are not options the judge was faced with. He was faced with a short sentence or a long sentence and decided that long sentences don't work.