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Appropriate punishment, on a six-point scale from reprimand to life in prison, for a government official or employee who leaks sensitive information to the press; 1998 and 2000 wordings differ somewhat in the scenario description.
AI-matched An AI model grouped these questions and mapped their answers onto shared categories, and a second AI review checked and corrected the grouping and mapping. No person has checked it: compare the question wordings and the answer mapping below before reading the lines against each other.
Latest: 15% answered “Reprimand” in GSS: Punishment for leaking sensitive information to a newspaper, 2000.
Shares of people whose answer maps onto these categories (non-answers and answers outside the scale are left out), because surveys differ in whether they offer “don’t know.” Each point is one survey wave at the middle of its field period. Lines from different surveys are never spliced together.
| Line | Question | Match | How answers map |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSS: Appropriate punishment for official leaking information | Appropriate punishment for official leaking information Now I'm going to ask you about several offenses. For each case, indicate (Number 1-6) what you would consider the appropriate punishment for each case.
B. A high-placed government official leaked sensitive information to a newspaper in order to influence public opinion about a controversial political issue. The official received no money. Caveat: Offender is a high-placed official; dismissal labeled military only | equivalent | Reprimand → Reprimand; Dismiss military → Dismissal; 1 year in prison → Short prison (up to 1 year); 5-9 yrs prison → Long prison/life (5+ years); 10-20 yrs prison → Long prison/life (5+ years); Life in prison → Long prison/life (5+ years) |
| GSS: Punishment for leaking sensitive information to a newspaper | Punishment for leaking sensitive information to a newspaper I'm going to ask you about several offenses. For each case, indicate what you would consider to be the appropriate punishment when the offender is a military service member or government employee.
B. Leaking sensitive information to a newspaper in order to influence public opinion about a controversial political issue. The offender received no money. Caveat: Offender is military member or government employee; scenario wording differs from other year | identical | Reprimand → Reprimand; Dismissal from the military/fired by the government → Dismissal; One year in prison → Short prison (up to 1 year); 5-9 years in prison → Long prison/life (5+ years); 10-20 years in prison → Long prison/life (5+ years); Life in prison → Long prison/life (5+ years) |