Should people obey laws without exceptn?

obeylaw

Source

General Social Survey https://gss.norc.org

Details

Question 1158. In general, would you say that people should obey the law without exception, or are there exceptional occasions on which people should follow their consciences even if it means breaking the law? (CIRCLE ONE ANSWER)

Overview

For further details see the official GSS documentation.

Counts by year:

year	iap	can't choose	follow conscience on occassions	no answer	obey the law without exception	not available in this year	Total
1972	1613	-	-	-	-	-	1613
1973	1504	-	-	-	-	-	1504
1974	1484	-	-	-	-	-	1484
1975	1490	-	-	-	-	-	1490
1976	1499	-	-	-	-	-	1499
1977	1530	-	-	-	-	-	1530
1978	1532	-	-	-	-	-	1532
1980	1468	-	-	-	-	-	1468
1982	1860	-	-	-	-	-	1860
1983	1599	-	-	-	-	-	1599
1984	1473	-	-	-	-	-	1473
1985	857	45	354	9	269	-	1534
1986	1470	-	-	-	-	-	1470
1987	1819	-	-	-	-	-	1819
1988	1481	-	-	-	-	-	1481
1989	1537	-	-	-	-	-	1537
1990	155	72	634	35	476	-	1372
1991	1517	-	-	-	-	-	1517
1993	1606	-	-	-	-	-	1606
1994	2992	-	-	-	-	-	2992
1996	1572	64	717	16	535	-	2904
1998	2832	-	-	-	-	-	2832
2000	2817	-	-	-	-	-	2817
2002	2765	-	-	-	-	-	2765
2004	2812	-	-	-	-	-	2812
2006	2992	9	709	1	799	-	4510
2008	2023	-	-	-	-	-	2023
2010	2044	-	-	-	-	-	2044
2012	1974	-	-	-	-	-	1974
2014	2538	-	-	-	-	-	2538
2016	1477	16	795	11	568	-	2867
2018	2348	-	-	-	-	-	2348
2021	4032	-	-	-	-	-	4032
2022	-	-	-	-	-	3544	3544
2024	-	-	-	-	-	3309	3309
Total	62712	206	3209	72	2647	6853	75699

Values

• 1 obey the law without exception

• 2 follow conscience on occassions

• NA(d) can't choose

• NA(i) iap

• NA(j) I don't have a job

• NA(m) dk, na, iap

• NA(n) no answer

• NA(p) not imputable

• NA(r) refused

• NA(s) skipped on web

• NA(u) uncodeable

• NA(x) not available in this release

• NA(y) not available in this year

• NA(z) see codebook