Bribery

BRIBERY OCCURS when something of value is improperly given to a public official in exchange for preferential treatment, or when officials use their position of power for personal gain. Bribes represent a corruption of a relationship of trust.

According to Transparency International, a non-governmental international organization devoted to combating corruption, bribery has several damaging effects. It undermines societal integrity, causes human rights abuses, corrupts democratic systems, discriminates against developing countries attempting to compete on a global scale, and disrupts free market operations. Within business, politics, and even within the criminal justice system, the offering of bribes has a long-established history to the point of being an institutionalized practice. The offering of bribes generally gives a distinct advantage over competitors by allowing an individual or organization to gain unfair benefits or avoid costs. Between 1994 and 1998, U.S. governmental officials found that bribes influenced 239 international contract competitions. Not surprisingly, the contracts were generally given to those who offered the bribes. In all, these 239 bribes accounted for $108 billion.

Within the United States, laws and statutes have been enacted to deal with bribery of both domestic and foreign officials. Internationally, similar laws have been recently developed to combat international bribery of foreign and/or public officials. Traditionally, most bribery offenses in the United States have been settled under section 201 of Title 18.

Enacted in 1962, section 201 criminalizes both the behavior of those who give or offer a bribe as well as those who accept one. In addition, this statute addresses gratuities given to witnesses for influencing their testimony. Under section 201, bribery is defined as the exchange, offering, or promise of anything of value such as money or favors to a public official in order to corruptly influence a social policy or act.

The federal courts have ruled that “value” is not necessarily limited to commercial or financial value but can include a simply promise of future employment. In terms of public officials, the bribery statutes maintain that officials are anyone who perform some federal duty or possesses some level of responsibility under a federal program or policy. While the original rhetoric contained within the bribery statutes applied only to federal officials, by 1984 Congress extended these laws to include any state or local agent who received $10,000 or more in federal funds. Under section 201, an official act involves any decision, matter, or action that is pending and which can be unduly influenced by a public official. Whenever an attempt is made to influence a public official to defraud the government, it is considered a corrupt act or bribe.