Governmental law vs. Grace

This is something that I have idly pondered before, thought fairly hard about this summer due to some events and some reading, and am fully wrestling with now due to circumstances I'm not going to post about here:

What exactly is the intersection between government legality/justice and grace? How do we as Christians legally respond when we are victimized?

We pray for God to help us "forgive us our debts/trespasses as we forgive our debtors/those who trespass against us." We are also told to submit to the ruling powers and authorities. So when we are victimized or witness a crime - what do we do?

We could go for justice and demand what is "rightfully ours", whether it be time, money, posessions, peace of mind, or revenge. Submit to the authorities, demand legal observance. Send them to jail or court, sue if we must. That sounds harsh, of course, but we do it every day, when we submit insurance claims or report a crime that we see.

Or we could turn the other cheek, let the perpetrator go. We do that too, but often out of fear of getting involved rather than out of charity and care.

So which do we strive for? If we don't turn in a theif, murderer, fraud, whatever they've done, don't persecute them - we serve them. Maybe, like Jean ValJean in Les Miserables, they learn their lesson, see Christ, and spend their lives serving others. But maybe we only set them free to recidivism, and maybe they go on to cheat and steal and rape other people - then we've not only failed to serve them, but we've failed to serve those around us whom they vicitmize next, and the authorities. Theoretically only God can know that answer. But that still leaves the quandary - what do we do?

It may be my non-confrontational attitude speaking, but I can't help but think that as Christians we should be leaning more towards forgiveness, especially when it comes to grievances against ourselves. Often this is characterized as being a "doormat", particularly when the victim themselves refuses to take action, a name that strips it of its dignity. But didn't Christ lay down His life for those who hated Him and even killed Him? Those who trespass against us become our adversaries - but aren't they the ones we are to love the most? And how are we to do so? Does Christ really mean to forgive - really? Even criminals?

The Sunday school answer seems obvious, but wrapped up in our judicial system and sense of "right and wrong", it's not. Even practically, we would cringe at the mere ideas of being wrongly fired, getting cheated out of insurance, or any other such thing without recompense.

So where do forgiveness and governmental justice intersect? And is that intersection that we see the one that God desires, or the one that we construct to be convenient in our lives?