> To jail the ones who don't have a legitimate defense.

Is "instincts made me do it" a legitimate defense or not?

> It could be counseling

Counseling isn't going to be of any help for something that already happened, and was a one-off caused by instincts older than the human race.

> I don't believe a child is an independent being until quite a while after birth. They're still pretty helpless for a long time.

Independent from their mother, at least.