What I'm going to say is just a hypothesis from my part. It might be bollocks. But.
For a long time I've suspected that Reddit runs some sort of algorithm to predict the profitability of each user, based on factors like
platform used (desktop vs. mobile)
running / not running an ad blocker
if not running an ad blocker, clicking on ads or not
likelihood of that user to buy Reddit junk (e.g. the "coins" of the past)
likelihood of that user to attract newer users
etc.
and then the output of that algorithm is taken into account when handling rule violation. As in: you can go rogue and they'll give you a short ban if you're deemed profitable, or a small offence will give you a permaban if unprofitable.
With that said I don't think that they manually review your earlier posts/comments before enforcing the rules.