Freeing a convicted child murderer?

I've just read the stories in TheStar today, about a 17-year old child murderer, being released from prison because of a problem with our laws. I can vaguely remember reading about this gruesome case years ago. I wonder if this was the right thing to do. It basically sends the message that if you want to commit murder, do it as a juvenile, because the law doesn't know what to do with you.

According to this article, there is a loophole in our law that prevents us from incarcerating a child murderer in prison. This loophole needs to be patched up as soon as possible. Granted, when the law was enacted, people may not have considered the possibility of juveniles committing murder. But in this day and age, anything is possible. If it isn't patched, we can expect to see more of these cases as kids now know that they can get away with murder.

Personally, I'm not a supporter of capital punishment. In the case of a child, I also do not support the idea of life-long incarceration. However, I do not think that setting a convicted murderer free on the streets is a good idea. There should at least be some sort of supervised monitoring to ensure that the released child can be re-integrated into society. We do not know how his already flawed personality is further damaged by his experiences in prison. It is only prudent to keep a watchful eye on him for a while.

PS. TheStar reports that the kid's ambition is to be a lawyer. I wonder why. Maybe he was screwed by his previous lawyer and decided that he won't want to be screwed by other lawyers in the future. I've always thought that crooks make the best lawyers and lawyers make the best crooks.