First you would have to prove this was intentional and done by the authors themselves (not e.g. an assistant).
That's not really different from most crimes... sometimes being hard to prove doesn't mean we just make it legal.
(As my username suggests, I have published scientific papers where I'm the corresponding author. I've also been added to truly shitty but honest papers against my will or knowledge, in cases where I did some of the work but left before the paper was written. I would never have approved the papers that were published had I been involved. This is an interesting wrinkle if criminal liability is on the table!)
You'll notice engineers tend to be scarce in arenas such as politics, it's safe to say people accustomed to and willing to face repercussions are a poor fit.
That's exactly why I'm arguing for raising standards in academia. When you publish a paper with a traditional publisher, you have to sign a bunch of stuff. You are aware that you are literally signing off on something and claiming responsibility for it.
In my opinion that responsibility should extend to legal liability for fraud with criminal penalties if mens rea can be established.
And, yes, I'd freely apply that standard to every paper I've ever published. Because they might or might not be wrong, but they're not fraudulent!