Why do ban durations and point totals keep changing?

So, I’m circling back to the question in the title... I’ve been watching how things play out here, and it seems a bit inconsistent, if I'm being honest. For instance, I saw one user get slapped with a month-long ban, only to have it somehow reduced to ten days later on. Then there’s the whole points system—some people seem to start off with just 10 penalty points, but then, after a while, those same posts suddenly carry a weight of 45 points, which is more than enough to trigger a ban. I've even seen cases where the opposite happens.

Is this just blatant favoritism at work?

Wouldn't you actually prefer if there was some room for correction?
I mean, what if someone gets hit with a penalty that’s just way too harsh for what they did? You'd want a chance to scale it back. Or even the other way around.
Let's stop dreaming about this perfect utopia where every single fine is calculated to the exact decimal point to match the offense perfectly. That's just not how it works when you're dealing with real people.