>Perhaps Europe just doesn't care - release them after a few years and go "oh well" when they hurt someone again

Yeah, our violent crime rates are so worse compared to US... Please show us the way! /s

>in countries where women aren't even allowed to carry pepper spray, there's less emphasis on keeping innocents safe and more emphasis on giving terrible people third/fourth/fifth chances.

Maybe judge from the respective results, as opposed to "law and order theater"?