Except this guy wasn't committing violent crimes, he was committing petty theft.
we don't have enough jail space for the property crimes. Prisons, in some ways, are part of the problem. You throw a petty criminal in with the hardened criminals and dehumanize him for a few years and then you wonder why he comes out a lot more vicious than when he went in.
Again, the Europeans don't have these problems. They only lock up the truly dangerous, they have social programs to that no one has to steal to eat, they have treatment programs for the addicts and the mentally ill.
(This is usually the part where some "totally not a racist" will remind us they don't have black people.)
We choose to live like this, and when most of the victims are people of color, you don't give a shit.
But oh my god, they killed a pretty white girl, let's all get upset! Where's the rope?