Sure, killing him is preferable to letting him out of prison, but life without any chance of parole, with Geoghan hauled into court time after time to face all the accusations from all the victims, would have been the best punishment.

By the way, there are some psychologists who believe that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein become a murderous dictator in no small part due to the severe physical and mental abuse he suffered as a child (History Channel had a program on him). He had no father, was unwanted and unloved by his mother, beaten and abused on a regular basis by his step-father, forced to commit crimes to earn money, and participated in his first killing at age 10. It's really no wonder he turned into such a monster.

It kinda makes you wonder about the lives of all of Geoghan's child victims. Most seem to have endured a long painful recovery, but did he mess up some poor kid beyond repair, who's going to evolve into a psychopathic killer some day? I sure hope not.