[internetter]

criminally feels excessive?

[Proziam]

If I steal hundreds of thousands of dollars (salary, plus research grants and other funds) and produce fake output, what do you think is appropriate?

To me, it's no different than stealing a car or tricking an old lady into handing over her fidelity account. You are stealing, and society says stealing is a criminal act.

[WarmWash]

We have a civil court system to handle stuff like this already.

[jacquesm]

You could make a good case for a white collar crime here, fraud for instance.