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Appropriate punishment, on a six-point scale from reprimand to life in prison, for a government employee or service member who sells secrets to a hostile government; 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: 8% answered “Reprimand or dismissal only” in GSS: Punishment for selling secrets to a hostile government, 2000.
Shares of everyone asked, including non-answers. 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: Punishment for selling secrets to a hostile government | Punishment for selling secrets to a hostile government 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.
C. Stealing and selling copies of secret codes and other classified intelligence materials to an agent of a hostile foreign government. Caveat: Generic offender (service member or government employee) rather than a specific Navy petty officer; same scale | equivalent | Reprimand → Reprimand or dismissal only; Dismissal from the military/fired by the government → Reprimand or dismissal only; One year in prison → Prison: up to 9 years; 5-9 years in prison → Prison: up to 9 years; 10-20 years in prison → Prison: 10-20 years or life; Life in prison → Prison: 10-20 years or life |
| GSS: Punishment for selling secrets to hostile government | Punishment for selling secrets to hostile government 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.
C. A Navy petty officer with the highest security clearance made copies of secret codes and other classified intelligence materials and sold them to an agent of a hostile foreign government. Caveat: Scenario names a Navy petty officer with top clearance; same six-point scale | equivalent | Reprimand → Reprimand or dismissal only; Dismiss/military → Reprimand or dismissal only; One yr in prison → Prison: up to 9 years; 5-9 yrs in prisn → Prison: up to 9 years; 10-20 yrs prison → Prison: 10-20 years or life; Life in prison → Prison: 10-20 years or life |