Pilot in Command means just that. Responsible both for a job well done and a job done poorly. Lets not erode what little command authority remains with Captains by suggesting that managment ought be either blamed or commended for decisions that are made by the crew under their emergency authority.
And while we're on the subject, suggesting that a pilot ought to "avoid civilian areas" in anything but the most dire circumstances (the Alaska Air MD-80 crash occurs to me as an example of a Captain using his authority to save the lives of innocent persons on the ground in an untenable situation) seems pretty ludicrous to me.