Bribery

SIGNIFICANCE: Bribery is a crime in which parties give and receive items or services of value in exchange for favors, usually having to do with public administration. This crime leads to many forms of corporate and governmental corruption that erode public trust in business and government.

Bribery dates back at least as far as biblical times, when it was regarded as a punishable offense to attempt to influence judges with gifts or promises of gifts. Because the judges were viewed as representing God, acts of bribery were considered to be sins against the divine. As society evolved through history, the crime of bribery was included in various European common-law doctrines. England, for example, included offenses such as bribery in its law to establish and maintain the integrity of acts conducted by public officials. Other acts that were made illegal in order to enhance the honesty of public officials included perjury, obstruction of justice, and resisting arrest.

To understand bribery fully, the common-law definition adopted in England must be referenced to explain the crime in its original context. During medieval times, bribery was criminalized to punish only those persons whose actions were intended to influence wrongfully public officials who were part of the criminal justice system. During that period, bribery was deemed a misdemeanor offense. As common law evolved, the scope of bribery legislation changed to include anyone who either gave or received anything of value for the purpose of influencing any public official’s legal duty. Then, as now, both givers and receivers of bribes were regarded as equally guilty.

Forms of Bribery

Criminal acts of bribery can take place in many different ways. The common-law definition dealt specifically with those individuals who tried to bribe public officials. Today, the scope of bribery has widened to include not only public officials but also employees working in any capacity for these officials, as well as commercial acts of bribery and sports bribery. Examples of bribery include bribing legislators to vote particular ways on issues, bribing judges to make rulings in favor of known criminal offenders, and bribing members of government to secure business contracts for companies. Some forms of bribery may even take the form of charitable gifts or endowments in exchange for political or businesses favors.

Commercial bribery encompasses illegal business practices in which purchasing agents are given bribes in return for guaranteeing business transactions. Money, services, and political favors are a few of the most common types of bribes offered in acts of commercial bribery. Sports bribery laws make it a criminal offense to offer anything of value to participants or officials in amateur and professional athletic events. The purpose of such bribes is to alter the athletes’ performances or to influence officials to alter their rulings.

Bribes can take the form of either tangible or intangible items or promises. Examples of tangible bribes include money, secured contracts, sexual favors, and illegal use of government or company property. Intangible bribes mainly include future promises to complete certain predetermined tasks or duties that favor the parties who are acting in the capacity of the givers. Examples of intangible bribes include stock or bond options.

Prevalence

As with other types of white-collar crime, there is a paucity of statistics that can offer a true picture of the extent of bribery, although a number of organizations work to measure it. The presence of bribery varies considerably from country to country. A statistic known as the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which is published yearly by the nonprofit organization Transparency International, measures countries' perceived levels of public corruption, including bribery, using research from experts as well as other sources, such as opinion polls. Countries are rated on a sliding scale, with a score of 100 indicating low or nonexistent corruption and a score of 0 indicating high corruption. In the early 2020s only a few countries, primarily located in Scandinavia, had CPI scores above 80. Over half of the countries ranked in the CPI had scores below 40.

The US is generally estimated to have a moderately low level of corruption, although it remains a persistent problem. The true prevalence and scope of the crime in the US can only be estimated by using the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). According to NIBRS officials, bribery as a white-collar offense has a higher proportion of individual victims than other property and white-collar offenses. In 2023 the US Justice Department reported that the federal government secured 334 corruption convictions. Bribery was the most commonly prosecuted type of public corruption in the US at that time.

Investigation

Bribery is an intricate and sometimes complicated crime to prove. It takes a concerted effort on the part of experienced investigators and prosecutors to mount strong cases against both givers and receivers of bribes. All parties are equally culpable; however, the mere offering of a bribe that is not accepted may also constitute a crime by itself. Investigating bribery takes many hours of evidence gathering, interviewing witnesses, and corroborating facts.

Most local, state, and federal law-enforcement agencies are empowered to investigate and arrest parties involved in bribery. Investigators at all levels must work with prosecutors to ensure that the evidence of the crime is in order before arrests and convictions can be sought. This is difficult at local levels because many departments’ resources are spread thin. To compound this problem, few local investigators are familiar with the techniques for investigating and establishing cases against white-collar offenders who engage in crimes such as bribery. Federal investigators, on the other hand, have more resources including manpower, technical investigative skills, and finances to combat bribery.

Prosecution

The main component of bribery is the illegal offer or agreement to give or do something in exchange for favors. Prosecutors must not only prove that defendants have the criminal intent to carry out their bribes but also provide evidence regarding the actual offers, agreements, or requests and acceptances of things of value. The main obstacle for prosecution of most bribery cases is the matter of intent. This is the most difficult element of the crime to prove because there must be concrete evidence that the transactions or attempted transactions have in fact taken place. Savvy criminals who are familiar with bribery laws often make their bribes in the form of gifts or endowments to reduce the possibilities of being detected.

Federal bribery statutes tend to focus on government officers and support employees, along with public witnesses and jurors who are testifying in federal cases. State bribery laws vary and usually offer only general definitions of the crime. However, many states are now broadening the parameters of their bribery laws to include new categories of perpetrators and illegal conduct.

Punishment

Under common law, punishments for bribery tended to be less harsh than they are today. In fact, bribery was considered merely a misdemeanor offense, so most punishments involved little or no time in prison. Now, however, bribery is considered a felony offense by both state and federal governments.

Federal and state authorities offer stiff criminal penalties for engaging in bribery. Most states and the federal government offer either imprisonment, probation, fines, or combinations of all three sanctions. Depending on the size of their bribes, convicted felons generally receive prison sentences, hefty fines, and some form of supervised probation. Average prison sentences for persons convicted of bribery are sixteen to nineteen months, but federal and state sentences may be as high as ten years. Moreover, both givers and receivers of bribes may be found criminally liable, and both are likely to receive the same sentences.

During the twenty-first century have seen increasing numbers of white-collar crimes in the United States. For some government officials, however, bribery is the price of doing business. The federal government and the governments of most states have prescribed stiff penalties for persons convicted of bribery. This notable increase in punishment offers a decisive indication that both state and federal authorities regard bribery as a serious crime, harmful to the integrity of society as a whole.

The legal status of penalties for certain types of bribery in the US was complicated in June 2024 with the US Supreme Court's decision in the case Snyder v. United States. The Court's decision in this case overturned the bribery conviction of James Snyder, the former mayor of Portage, Indiana, who had been previously convicted of accepting bribes from a trucking company; in its decision, the Court also decided that it was not illegal for public officials to accept gifts, or "gratuities," for actions they had already completed. Some observers argued that this narrowed the scope of public corruption law and would make it harder for law enforcement agencies to secure convictions for bribery.

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