Public Corruption
PUBLIC CORRUPTION
Kelly Monks
Anthony F. Scarpelli
CJ-305-02
Applied Criminal Justice Ethics
Unit 2 Critical Analysis Essay
May 1, 2011
PUBLIC CORRUPTION
Public corruption involves a breach of public trust and/or abuse of position by federal, state, or local officials and their private sector accomplices. By broad definition, a government official, whether elected, appointed or hired, may violate federal law when he/she asks for, demands, solicits, accepts, or agrees to receive anything of value in return for being influenced in their performance of their official duties( Myint, 2006). The majority of public corruption cases fall into one of five categories: legislative, judicial, regulatory, contractual, and law enforcement. Legislative corruption and judicial corruption deals with influence of legislators and judges. Regulatory corruption deals with government investigators, such as those looking into the corporate scandals of the past few years. Contractual corruption is illegal forms of persuasion connected to the distribution of government contracts. Law enforcement corruption refers to any improper attempt to sway officers of the law. Examples of corrupt behavior would include: bribery, extortion, fraud, embezzlement, nepotism, cronyism, appropriation of public assets and property for private use, and influence peddling. Corrupt behavior activities such as fraud and embezzlement can be undertaken by an official alone and without involvement of a second party. While others such as bribery, extortion and influence peddling involve two parties, the giver and taker in a corrupt deal. “Corruption is a Western concept and is not applicable to traditional societies, where corruption does not have such a negative meaning. Many traditional societies with a “gift culture” have a different understanding of civil responsibilities and etiquette. The social structure and political traditions of many countries are based on the
Kelly Monks
Anthony F. Scarpelli
CJ-305-02
Applied Criminal Justice Ethics
Unit 2 Critical Analysis Essay
May 1, 2011
PUBLIC CORRUPTION
Public corruption involves a breach of public trust and/or abuse of position by federal, state, or local officials and their private sector accomplices. By broad definition, a government official, whether elected, appointed or hired, may violate federal law when he/she asks for, demands, solicits, accepts, or agrees to receive anything of value in return for being influenced in their performance of their official duties( Myint, 2006). The majority of public corruption cases fall into one of five categories: legislative, judicial, regulatory, contractual, and law enforcement. Legislative corruption and judicial corruption deals with influence of legislators and judges. Regulatory corruption deals with government investigators, such as those looking into the corporate scandals of the past few years. Contractual corruption is illegal forms of persuasion connected to the distribution of government contracts. Law enforcement corruption refers to any improper attempt to sway officers of the law. Examples of corrupt behavior would include: bribery, extortion, fraud, embezzlement, nepotism, cronyism, appropriation of public assets and property for private use, and influence peddling. Corrupt behavior activities such as fraud and embezzlement can be undertaken by an official alone and without involvement of a second party. While others such as bribery, extortion and influence peddling involve two parties, the giver and taker in a corrupt deal. “Corruption is a Western concept and is not applicable to traditional societies, where corruption does not have such a negative meaning. Many traditional societies with a “gift culture” have a different understanding of civil responsibilities and etiquette. The social structure and political traditions of many countries are based on the
Cited: 1. Benefits of Corruption. International Debate Education Association.(2006). Retrieved on May 1, 2011 from http://www.idebate.org/debatabase/topic_details.php?topicID=507. 2. Bribery. Lawyershop.com. Retrieved on May 1, 2011 from http://www.lawyershop.com/practice-areas/criminal-law/white-collar-crimes/bribery- 4. Transparency International. The Global Corruption Against Corruption. Retrieved on May 1, 2011 from http://www.transparency.org/news_room/faq/corruption_faq#faqcorr9.