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Punishment for plagiarism

When you write a student or research paper, you need to remember the text's uniqueness. In universities in the USA, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and India, the attitude to plagiarism is as severe as it gets. The university administration considers unoriginal papers to infringe on someone else's copyrights. Punishments for plagiarism are as strict as possible.
A student or researcher who submits an unoriginal document for examination faces academic penalties. Dismissal, expulsion, community service, and even criminal liability are the serious consequences for the presence of even a tiny % of plagiarism. In this article, we will discuss the penalties in more detail.

Why is plagiarism punishable

Before we consider the sentence for plagiarism, let's understand the composition of the crime. What is plagiarism? It is the deliberate copying of someone else's designs, research, reports, and other content to pass it off as your intellectual property.

The administrations of universities, research centers, and companies equate such copying with theft. Even if you prove your innocence and avoid the problem, your reputation will be damaged. No one will want to collaborate with a thief. Legally speaking, plagiarism is a copyright violation. It is a crime for which you will be held liable.
Why copying someone else's work is considered a serious offense:

  • the administration starts to doubt the qualifications of the employee;
  • a teacher will not be able to assess the level of a student who uses unoriginal articles;
  • an unoriginal text from a copywriter can make the company look feeble in the eyes of competitors.
In our blog, we looked at the punishment for plagiarism in college.

Is plagiarism a felony?

Can you go to jail for plagiarism? Unfortunately, yes. An original research paper is highly valued by the university, the publisher, or the company for which the author works. It covers relevant issues, solves the problems set by the author, and has a profound methodological basis. The reputation of the whole department is built on such texts. If someone starts deliberately copying the results of such research, the company will regard it as an attack on the entire department and send their best lawyers to court.


The degree of punishment depends on the legislation of the country you live. In America, you can go to prison for one year for copyright infringement. If your plagiarism efforts earned you money, the punishment could be increased to 10 years.

What legal punishments are there for plagiarism

Penalties for plagiarism vary depending on the country or state in which you live. Fines for people caught plagiarising also differ according to the offender's status. Who wrote a paper that was not original? A student, journalist, copywriter, or scholar? The degree of punishment depends on the professional activity.
For example, a famous New York college, The Cazenovia, has developed a step-by-step system of punishments:

  1. The paper fails the anti-plagiarism test for the first time. The student will receive a low grade (F), additional lectures on ethics, and classes with a tutor;
  2. A second infraction will result in the student repeating the entire course. All progress will be annulled;
  3. Third or more infractions will result in expulsion from the university.
A system of fines has been developed for the employees of British companies. For copyright infringements recognized by the court, the offender faces imprisonment or a fine of up to $50,000. If the unoriginal work brought profit to the author (more than $2,500), the fine amount reaches $250,000. The prison sentence is then increased to 10 years.

In Australia, almost any intentional copying leads to the employee's dismissal and expulsion of the student. To avoid problems relating to legislation, you can check for plagiarism online before you hand in your document.

Always check your work for plagiarism

Fines for plagiarism are inevitable if you infringe someone else's copyright in your report. Use accurate plagiarism checkers before you publish your document to prevent getting into trouble and avoid dismissal, expulsion or legal consequences.

Plagiarism checkers are precise tools that automatically look for similarities in the text. They highlight problem areas in an article or research paper. With the help of our service, you will turn in a unique project, and no one will doubt your competence, qualification, and professionalism.
Copying someone else's work is not always intentional. Sometimes, you unintentionally use another person's words, rely on a famous professor's opinion, or address a problem other students discussed. Checking articles and essays for uniqueness is very important. After a quick check, you will have peace of mind and confidence in your work and be able to defend it brilliantly.

Text author: Columbia Proof

12 june 2022

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