It is sad to have students cheating. For me, it is harder to detect cheating. I know that to have the justice served and to create an environment with equal opportunities there should be no cheating. Those who cheat abuse the fairness of the course. However, I still have difficulty with charging the cheaters. I have this feeling that there is always an excuse, not necessarily an accepted one, behind every cheating. In the mean time, I view most of the unacceptable excuses as legitimate. Depression, just feeling bad, procrastination, love, etc. are among such excuses. I think, the education system and the honor code ignore such circumstances in most of the cases.
It is a very difficult question that how much the punitive actions are proportionate with different instances of cheating. The general rule is that a single instance of dishonorable conduct, no matter how big or small it is, should be treated with the highest punishment, which is a F. Though is this really serve the justice? I am not sure. Just think how the society would become if we would have executed every criminal regardless of the crime.