Bribery, a form of pecuniary corruption, is an act usually implying money or gift given that alters the behaviour of the recipient in ways not consistent with the duties of that person or in breach of law. 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 discharge 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.
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.
Tipping, for example, is considered bribery in some societies, while in others the two concepts may be interchangeable. In Spanish, bribes are referred to as "mordida" (literally, "bite"), in
Arab countries they are
Backshish or Bakshish. However, Bakshish is more akin to
tipping and is socially permissible.
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 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] The burden of corruption falls disproportionately on the bottom billion people living in extreme poverty who cannot afford to pay and who thus receive sub-standard treatment from officials.[
citation needed]
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 physician’s 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 Block 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]
المصدر:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bribery