Bribery, a form of corruption, is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behavior of the recipient.

Bribery constitutes a crime and is defined by

Black's Law Dictionary as the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a

public or legal duty.

The bribe is the gift bestowed to influence the recipient's conduct. It may be any money, good, right in action, property, preferment, privilege, emolument, object

of value, advantage, or merely a promise or undertaking to induce or influence the action, vote, or influence of a person in an official or public capacity. Forms of bribery

Many types of bribes exist: tip, gift, perk, skim, favor, discount, waived fee/ticket, free food, free ad, free trip, free tickets, sweetheart deal, kickback/payback,

funding, happy meal, inflated sale of an object or property, lucrative contract, grease money, donation, campaign contribution, fund raiser, sponsorship/backing,

higher paying job, stock options, secret commission, or promotion (rise of position/rank).

One must be careful of differing social and cultural norms when examining bribery. Expectations of when a monetary transaction is appropriate can differ from

place to place. Political campaign contributions in the form of cash, for example, are considered criminal acts of bribery in some countries, while in the United

States they are legal. Tipping, for example, is considered bribery in some societies, while in others the two concepts may not be interchangeable.

The offence may be divided into two great classes: the one, where a person invested with power is induced by payment to use it unjustly; the other, where

power is obtained by purchasing the suffrages of those who can impart it. Likewise, the briber might hold a powerful role and control the transaction; or in

other cases, a bribe may be effectively extracted from the person paying it, although this is better known as extortion.

The forms that bribery take are numerous. For example, a motorist might bribe a police officer not to issue a ticket for speeding, a citizen seeking paperwork or

utility line connections might bribe a functionary for faster service. In Eugene, Oregon, bribery is an important aspect of the local SLUG Queen pageant that

sets it apart from other pageants. The Slug Queens set the rare example of creating an environment where bribery is both accepted and encouraged. The

moment a new queen is crowned, the old queens, who are the judges of the pageant, are open to bribery.

Bribery may also take the form of a secret commission, a profit made by an agent, in the course of his employment, without the knowledge of his principal.

Euphemisms abound for this (commission, sweetener, back-kick etc.) Bribers and recipients of bribery are likewise numerous although bribers have one common

denominator and that is the financial ability to bribe.

Bribery around the world is estimated at about $1 trillion (494bn).[1]

As indicated on the pages devoted to political corruption, efforts have been made in recent years by the international community to encourage countries to

dissociate and incriminate as separate offences, active and passive bribery. From a legal point of view, active bribery can be defined for instance as the

promising, offering or giving by any person, directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage [to any public official], for himself or herself or for anyone else, for

him or her to act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her functions. (article 2 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173) of the

Council of Europe). Passive bribery can be defined as the request or receipt [by any public official], directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage, for himself

or herself or for anyone else, or the acceptance of an offer or a promise of such an advantage, to act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her

functions (article 3 of the Criminal Law Convention on Corruption (ETS 173)).

The reason for this dissociation is to make the early steps (offering, promising, requesting an advantage) of a corrupt deal already an offence and, thus, to give

a clear signal (from a criminal policy point of view) that bribery is not acceptable. Besides, such a dissociation makes the prosecution of bribery offences easier

since it can be very difficult to prove that two parties (the bribe-giver and the bribe-taker) have formally agreed upon a corrupt deal. Besides, there is often no

such formal deal but only a mutual understanding, for instance when it is common knowledge in a municipality that to obtain a building permit one has to pay

a "fee" to the decision maker to obtain a favourable decision. [edit] Government

A grey area may exist when payments to smooth transactions are made. United States law is particularly strict in limiting the ability of businesses to pay for

the awarding of contracts by foreign governments; however, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act contains an exception for "grease payments"; very basically, this

allows payments to officials in order to obtain the performance of ministerial acts which they are legally required to do, but may delay in the absence of such

payment. In some countries, this practice is the norm, often resulting from a developing nation not having the tax structure to pay civil servants an adequate

salary. Nevertheless, most economists regard bribery as a bad thing because it encourages rent seeking behaviour. A state where bribery has become a way of

life is a kleptocracy. [edit] Tax treatment of bribes

The tax status of bribes is an issue for governments since the bribery of government officials impedes the democratic process and may interfere with good

government. In some countries, such bribes are considered tax-deductible payments. However, in 1996, in an effort to discourage bribery, the OECD Council

recommended that member countries cease to allow the tax-deductibility of bribes to foreign officials. This was followed by the signing of the Anti-Bribery

Convention. Since that time, the majority of the OECD countries which are signatories of the convention have revised their tax policies according to this

recommendation and some have extended the measures to bribes paid to any official, sending the message that bribery will no longer be tolerated in the

operations of the government.[2] [edit] Medicine

Pharmaceutical corporations may seek to reward doctors for heavy prescription of their drugs through gifts. The American Medical Association has published

ethical guidelines for gifts from industry which include the tenet that physicians should not accept gifts if they are given in relation to the physicians prescribing

practices.[1] Doubtful cases include grants for traveling to medical conventions that double as tourist trips.

Dentists often receive samples of home dental care products such as toothpaste, which are of negligible value; somewhat ironically, dentists in a television

commercial will often state that they get these samples but pay to use the sponsor's product.

In countries offering state-subsidized or nationally funded healthcare where medical professionals are underpaid, patients may use bribery to solicit the standard

expected level of medical care. For example, in many formerly Communist countries from what used to be the Eastern Bloc it may be customary to offer

expensive gifts to doctors and nurses for the delivery of service at any level of medical care in the non-private health sector.[3][4]

[edit] Politics

Politicians receive campaign contributions and other payoffs from powerful corporations, organizations or individuals when making choices in the interests of those

parties, or in anticipation of favorable policy. However, such a relationship does not meet the legal standards for bribery without evidence of a quid pro quo.

See also influence peddling and political corruption.