The way I took it is that Cora WAS willing to take responsibility for her actions, and was ready to go to the Worse Place, if that was her fate. That might have been enough to warrant the Powers that Be to allow her to move on to the Better Place, and could be a similar reason as to why Liam was spared that fate. Plus, I guess it would have been quite a damper to see Cora get sent to the Worse Place after having those beautiful scenes with her daughters, despite Cora’s long list of sins.
I get what you’re saying but that continues to eschew any sort of punishment at all. I’m glad those two characters are willing to accept their fate and their punishment but the show got queasy at the idea and handwaved it away. Meanwhile, other souls–some villainous, some repentant and some nowhere near villain status (Auntie Em)–do get eternal punishment for no rhyme or reason except for PLOT. It’s what @sciencevsmagic was saying about it being blase.
However, I will say this: it works much better in this case–Cora–because we’ve been through so much with her, because of her goodbye with her daughters, and because of all reconciliation that came back in Zelena’s house. Liam didn’t really do any of that until after he was saved and sitting in his merry boat with his victims…