Agreed. I wish the USA had this point of view, but instead we do view it as an oubliette to put people we dont like / are too poor

Yes, but mercy and rehabilitation should not come at the expense of the innocent.

Plus, when I think rehabilitating people in jail, I'm thinking of nonviolent offenses. Premeditated murder isn't on my list of crimes I think someone can come back from, not when it's like this.

Prison helps keep people safe, create deterrent, prevents vigilantism. Rehabilitation is the humane thing to do, but it is not why we isolate criminals.

Seems like you are blending the concepts of punishment and that of revenge. While a criminal, who’s crime has been proved in court should absolutely be punished for the crimes he/she committed according to the corresponding law, the sentences should not be led or even influenced by the feeling of “taking revenge for the victims”, because that’s not what a punishment should be about.

I guess this is one of the main differences between judicial systems and their underlying philosophies in the US and in Europe. While in the US the state can kill / execute some person, because this person has killed another person, that would be unthinkable in Europe, because the state does not have such a “right” and killing / executing a murderer would also be a crime against that person’s life.

European systems are more driven by the idea of “resocialising” criminals, so that they could eventually become acceptable members of society again some day.

Yeah! Instead the victims should be forced to pay for the perpetrator to live with free meals and housing for decades rather than attempting to treat the core of the issue if at all possible and turning these people ideally into healthy contributors to society as fast as humanely possible! That definitely helps the victims!