I'll just contextualise my comments a little.
I've worked and continue to work with the individuals you are talking about and I have been part of the unconditional positive regard and compassion they are offered in attempts to assist them to recover from their past traumas and victimisation and attempt to reframe their world view to one less likely to result in their pretty much inevitable reoffending being patterned with as serious violence as it may hypothetically be characterised by without an intervention of that kind.
There's more than one case that I've worked with in which individuals who've developed very clear patterns of pro-active aggression as their standard way of relating to others and interacting with others have perceived it as nothing but weakness, sometimes its lead them to become more violent and commit worse offenses than I believe they may otherwise have engaged in precisely because they perceive others or the system which will respond to their behaviour as weak, the consequences for themselves inconsequential.
There are cases I've encountered of individuals who are the self-fufilling prophecy type and engage in a pattern of behaviour benefiting from diversionary work, victim-perpetrator interface meetings, the whole nine yards and when they finally meet with, for want of a better word, an "unforgiving" sentence are totally and utterly shocked by it and respond with an all to late shock and regret, if not for the crime itself, which I would accept is a complex matter psychologically (most individuals are not good at dealing with personal failure, accountability or being called to task, they become defensive, deny responsibility and then rationalise their actions), then for being caught or challenging the courts. Although its not a frequent occurence.
So I'm not speaking in the abstract, not suggesting that you are either but lets be realistic.
I'm not arguing for stiffer or harsher sentencing either or more punitive measures but what I would suggest is that while well meaning and big hearted individuals will want to exemplify compassion etc. it is more often than not going to be one of the clearest cases of "the message sent is not the message received" there is. All of which is less and less likely to add to or amount to the sort of cultural revulsion at the sorts of behaviour branded as criminal which is totally and utterly requisite to fighting crime in the first instance.