Out of all the sentencing conventions in the US, I think the typical 5-10 years for pedophilia is the most obviously wrong. There's nothing to be gained from releasing pedos from jail, but everything to lose. The recidivism rate is so high that we need a special class of felon (the sexual offender registry) to try to provide at least some protection to children from further predation. In that light, is a life sentence cruel and unusual punishment as a consequence for child molestation? I don't think so.
The most enraging thing about child serial killers is that almost every one of them has a rap sheet for CSA and rape, but were set free by the legal system, sometimes multiple times, until their cravings got strong enough to kill their victims. The worst case I ever read was a guy that skipped bail for a pedo charge, then went on to kill an entire family, kidnap the youngest kids, and kill one of them before his last victim was rescued.
I don't know who decided that pedophiles should have the privilege of leaving prison, but let's say it wouldn't be surprising if there were a lot of conflicting interests involved.
I agree that pedophilia should carry a harsh punishment but also pedophilia is <12yo so keep that in mind.
A big issue of pedophilia, imo, is the evidence. A lot of it is he said, she said. I don't believe such situations should ever end in life sentences. If there's pretty obvious evidence that's one thing but if a 9yo girl says her gymnastics instructor touched her inappropriately and then a few other kids come forward and say the same thing, that's difficult to give a life sentence for, IMO. There's a number of scenarios where what's going on truly isn't pedophilia but kids and parents get swept up in a witch hunt where they create the boogeyman because they want to find it. Remember, this is a society that fired a head coach for rape because he kissed a girl after she won a championship. The bar of what is "inappropriate" is a little out of whack.
A lot of times when you see obvious bad people getting away with hardly any punishment it's because the person is non-White or a woman and they're being freed to humiliate white people and men.