There is this thing in fandom where people think that Angel just gets let off the hook for everything, whereas Spike gets blamed for stuff, even after the soul, but I think that is very much a fandom perception, or viewpoint.

I think fans get confused because the narrative sometimes treats Angel as distinctly different from Angelus - but even that is very inconsistent, and Angel is at his best as a character when the line between Angel and Angelus is at its blurriest. Actually, I don't know if the Angel/Angelus naming divide even existed yet in Revelations.