Equal consequences can be unfair when responsibilities were never equal.

Identical treatment can be unjust when the responsibility was never shared equally. The person who set the conditions and the person who followed instructions inside them are not in the same position, and treating their outcomes the same flatters whoever had the most power. Evenness can be a way of avoiding the harder accounting.

Before distributing consequences, ask who had knowledge, who had authority, and who had a real choice. Weight accordingly. It takes longer than a uniform rule and it is far closer to fair.