Their responsibilities include protecting both the Senior Council and other White Council members from attacks, dealing with the Vampire Courts, the Faerie, and warlocks and serving as judge, jury and executioner when in the field against violators of the Seven Laws of magic. Many warlocks are killed resisting arrest, or apprehended after their crimes have earned them a death sentences. Hearings before the Senior Council are rare. Dresden Wiki

No, they are not judge and jury!  The accused are entitled to a trial, even if it has evolved to almost a kangaroo type event where the outcome is predestined because of 1] practicality, not enough wizards willing to risk to the Doom to rehab a young would be warlock, 2] because the Merlin in particular believes the results are mixed at best to disastrous if the rehab fails...   So it may have evolved to a point where young offenders are simply killed for a variety of reasons by the Wardens, but that isn't how it is supposed to be..  So these days the Council does a lot of looking the other way unless someone like Harry insists that a trial is held..   The whole point of the trial for the Korean kid in my opinion was an object lesson for Harry by the Merlin that trials are mostly a waste of time..

When Harry tried to bring in Molly for trial the merlins reaction to was something like "why did you not kill her yet" and "you are wasting time". Even with a warden they do not really trust like Harry the overview is minimal.

I am sure a lot of wardens do their jobs as expected but there is a lot of room for abusing power, cutting corners, acting on tunnel vision, ....

And little chance of discovery. In such an organisation you need only a few bad apples to get a reputation among people who do not dare to complain because there is no independent complains department and wardens will cover each other. Because that is what members of closed organisations do if they get the chance.

And if a bad apple is in a position of influence others will copy his behaviour because they think it is normal.

Wardens have power. People behave differently around them which makes them less aware what is going on.

And most importantly pressure to get results can do the rest. The whole structure promotes abuse of power and no real brakes on it. The only brakes are the wardens own consciences. That is not enough.

So I do not think they will all the run out to kill the kids but if one does there is little to stop him and other abuse will even be more likely.

As I said, for various reasons some of them perhaps understandable, the White Council's justice for breakers of the Laws, has become a zero tolerance policy... 

I think that the WC is trying to balance out their place between two worlds, the mortal and the supernatural.

I think it more about finding themselves less relevant in a modern world, the time of the village wise woman or man has past.   Kids who show signs of talent no longer have any place to go or any knowledge of what it all means.  All they know is they have these cool talents and like normal kids everywhere they experiment with them and get into trouble.  Meanwhile the WC has been decimated by wars over the last thousand years and have spent their time navel gazing unlike Harry who has attempted to fit into the modern world openly as a practicing wizard.   As a result, zero tolerance has evolved into not just being the safest course for both worlds but the easiest to implement.  But as we all know zero tolerance policies are seriously flawed because there isn't a one size fits all and justice usually isn't served by it... But those those who advocate it will argue, it keeps everyone safe so it doesn't matter that perhaps a few talented babies who might make great wizards someday are thrown out with the bath water.

That's really interesting. Any particular actions? Her particular malice toward Dresden, that's later pretty much gone entirely after Small Favor, does seem pretty out of place. It's handwaved when she says she was trying to protect him, or that she was showing him tough love, or that she's a changeable Fae and can do what she wants (pretty much variably at later points in the series), but it still sticks out pretty far to me.

Which makes me think that she was trying all along to resist the infection..  On one hand she was trying to undermine Mab, that is why she wanted the Knife to begin with, power..  At the same time she did her best to save Harry, perhaps her promise to Margaret in this case was stronger than the infection... But remember in Proven Guilty one minute she was warning Harry that she must not be let go, then the next wanting him to turn her lose. 

Yeah.....

I am rereading the series, but not all at once...  My last reread was Grave Peril which was fascinating considering what we know now...   

This feels like a comment that Jim would laugh at.....

Why?   If Harry's job is done, he either will  die or get his reward...