Policies towards crime in America are pretty strict and have been so for a long time, yet the problem continues to fester and the homicide rate itself is still

Policies towards crime in America are pretty strict and have been so for a long time, yet the problem continues to fester and the homicide rate itself is still much higher than in most Western nations with comparatively less severe punishments for criminals. It's not just about the feel-good narrative but the actual idea of whether rehabilitation is more effective at getting the low crime rate you want than focusing on protestant-type punishment, even if it seems that a lot of unpleasant people are then treated better than the public would want them to be. As for terrorism, the principle is similar. The "tough guy" response can actually be security theater: short of policing every interaction, it's difficult to prevent every attack, although of course more can be done. If you start changing everything about the way your country functions after one attack, it also incentivizes more attacks. It doesn't help that the aggressive and nationalistic reaction is exactly what ISIS is hoping to trigger in the West. Not to mention the absurdity of having a strong policy towards terrorism while at the same time giving close support to nations such as SA. To summarize, there's a lot more to consider other than people simply being too nice to survive.