Oftentimes it’s a lack of remorse rather than the bad deed itself that comes back to haunt a culprit.

Carlee Russell, the 25-year-old woman who professed to have been abducted and sexually abused after attempting to assist a toddler she saw alone on the side of the highway, is at the very least avoiding that mistake.

Russell admitted Monday her story was fabricated, apologizing to her friends and family as well as the volunteers and police officers who searched for her while asking for the affected groups’ “forgiveness and prayers.”

Prosecutors are weighing charges against Russell; if she manages to get off with very little or no hard time, there’s little doubt she’ll have her contrition to thank.

But there’s another hoaxster who has never apologized for his actions and has nevertheless managed to wriggle his way out of jail.

Jussie Smollett, the privileged actor who fooled Kamala Harris, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and so many others into believing he was the victim of a violent hate crime perpetrated by MAGA-cap-clad attackers, is a free man.

In December 2021, Smollett was found guilty on five of the six felony disorderly conduct charges he faced, each of which carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail.

Three months later, Smollett was sentenced to just 150 days behind bars.

Yet the actor with the flair for the dramatic showed no gratitude for the judge’s mercy.

“I did not do this. And I am not suicidal,” declared Smollett before shouting “I am innocent!” as he was escorted from the courtroom.

Still, Smollett managed to serve just six days of his sentence before an appellate court let him leave while he appealed his conviction.

And though he is now being forced to serve the 30 months’ probation that was tacked onto his sentence, he has also been allowed to leave the state and enjoy the warm embrace of his similarly powerful, wealthy friends in Hollywood.

Well over a year later, Smollett is still free and still seeking the overturning of his conviction, arguing his sentence was excessive and it was unfair for him to have even been charged after prosecutors initially decided not to pursue criminal penalties.

No, seriously.

This is no protest against the levers of our legal system that allow Smollett to seek a reversal of his fortunes.

They are good and necessary provisions that make our justice system the envy of the world.

It is important, however, that Jussie Smollett finds himself back behind bars and be forced to pay the restitution he owes the city of Chicago for the amount of time and energy put into investigating the fake hate crime against him.

False claims, especially about something as serious as a violent hate crime, have victims.

As the stridently progressive ex-mayor Lori Lightfoot put it in a statement after Smollett’s conviction: “The malicious and wholly fabricated claim made by Mr. Smollett resulted in over 1500 hours of police work that cost the City over $130,000 in police overtime.”

Moreover, while Smollett proclaimed to have been a downstream victim of American hate, his high-profile hoax actually did immense harm to the cause of racial justice.

As the judge who sentenced him put it, “the hypocrisy, it is just astounding.”

The real-world damage he’s wrought by depleting the city of Chicago of significant resources it could have devoted to its crime epidemic and poisoning the country’s political dialogue is more than enough reason for why Smollett should serve out his original sentence.

But what’s more compelling still is his stubborn, narcissistic and oh-so-Hollywood refusal to apologize.

Isaac Schorr is a staff writer at Mediaite.