The stories rarely make front page news, but recent reports of legal actions against the big Wall Street banks at the heart of the 2008-09 financial crisis suggest federal authorities are finally trying to make those involved in financial misdeeds pay. While more aggressive enforcement and prosecutions are welcome, many critics continue to note that no top bank executives have been targeted and nobody has gone to prison.

Just this week, JPMorgan Chase, the nation’s largest bank, revealed it is the target of an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department over the handling of mortgage-backed securities, the investment product that imploded when the housing bubble burst. Given the Justice Department and other investigations, the bank has increased its financial reserves for settlement-related penalties by $800 million to $6.8 billion.

Other major banks have disclosed that they too are being targeted for their handling of mortgage-related securities. There is even speculation that some prosecutions will be criminal, rather than civil — something many critics have noted, suggesting Washington was reluctant to go after Wall Street’s most powerful and influential leaders.

It’s been troubling that most federal investigations into Wall Street malfeasance have resulted in financial settlements, which critics note become just another cost of doing business for the big banks. Prosecutions that put some executives in prison would be a more effective deterrent.

In addition to the action against JPMorgan, it was reported last week that the Justice Department and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission both filed civil lawsuits against the Bank of America accusing it of investor fraud related to the packaging and sale of securitized mortgage products. The lawsuits allege that the bank made misleading statements and failed to disclose important facts about the mortgage-backed securities it and its subsidiaries were selling before the financial crisis.

Late last month, the guilty verdict against notorious Goldman Sachs trader Fabrice Tourre was hailed as a victory for the SEC, which had been widely criticized for being asleep or ineffective in the lead-up to the financial crisis — or for being overly timid in pursuing legal action against the big banks in the aftermath of the crisis.

Despite the guilty verdict in the civil suit against Tourre, critics again noted no high-level bankers have been brought to trial. Tourre, one of hundreds of vice presidents at Goldman Sachs, will pay a hefty fine and will probably be barred from working in the financial industry. But his Goldman Sachs bosses remain unscathed. One critic complained “The SEC must stop chasing minnows while letting the whales of Wall Street go free.”

After several years of little or no legal action against Wall Street banks, the recent cases and ongoing investigations targeting JPMorgan, Bank of America and others suggest the SEC and other enforcement agencies might finally succeed in holding those most responsible for the financial crisis accountable. But financial penalties and settlements, in which the bank “neither admits or denies” wrongdoing are not enough.

Putting a few top Wall Street executives in prison would do more to prevent future financial abuses than the multimillion-dollar settlements agreed to between banks and federal officials.

There is hope that Wall Street will be made to pay for its role in the financial crisis, but the odds are still with the top bankers, given their power and influence in Washington, D.C.