Performance Analysis and Interviews of Non-CS-Major Students Sanctioned for Cheating in CS1

College cheating is common, including in computer science (CS) classes like introductory programming (CS1). Much research surveys college students about cheating, but few survey students actually caught cheating, or analyze their performance. We analyzed performance of 24 students sanctioned for cheating on programs in our CS1 over three terms, out of 300+ students, mostly non-CS science and engineering majors. Sanctioned students participated less in lectures (scoring 77% vs. 91%, p = 0.00002), and were less earnest in their completion of the online book's readings (51% vs. 80%, p = 0.0000001) during weeks 1-5. Those findings suggest early disengagement which would correlate with a tendency to cheat, and might also suggest a lack of learning which might help cause cheating. Sanctioned students scored dramatically lower on the earlier midterm exam (61% vs. 83%, p = 0.0001). After being sanctioned with Fs in the course (typically post-midterm), most agreed to an optional later interview to help the professor learn how to prevent cheating, at which point most were quite forthright. Key themes included an inability or unwillingness to devote the time needed to learn programming, a belief that the required CS1 course was not important for non-CS majors, and a disbelief that cheating students would be caught or punished despite warnings. More studies of such experiences may help instructors reduce cheating; in our case, the findings suggest instructors should emphasize relevance, make detection/punishment efforts clear, and detect early disengagement and potentially intervene.