fokker,
"...answering for it..." is covered by civil penalties ( revocation of license, civil suits by next of kin, etc. ). Criminal penalties are quite another and are the precedent that must be avoided.
Criminal penalty for pilots is an ugly monster that must be stopped when it shows its head. Once this is allowed to take hold, you'll be facing criminal charges for the incident/accident no matter the circumstances.
Government pencil monkeys ( especially the elected ones ) get a lot of personal mileage out of "getting tough" on these darned pilots. Joe Sixpack really thinks his government reps are "there for him".
Bad deal...