Criminal's Justice

"My confidence is that there will for a long time be virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen to correct abuses."
~ Thomas Jefferson (letter to Edward Rutledge, 1788)

Is it me or does it seem of late that we have reached the end of Mr. Jefferson's confidence? By this I mean we no longer are able to properly hold to account those parties who have committed abuses while working for our government. In the last half dozen years or so, we've seen numerous cases where committees have been formed to look into and bring charges against suspected wrong-doers. When these committees have finished their investigations, a government peon may get charged with a crime, but it never goes much higher. It almost makes you think they're bound by the golden rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. This is a good rule when those applying the rule are good, upstanding citizens. But it takes on a whole new meaning when the rule is applied by evil-doers!

How can justice be done when the people we task with the job of bringing these wrong-doers to account for their actions are just as crooked as the crooks?