Briber (Essay Sample)

Bribery
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Bribery
Introduction
Bribery is the most common type of public trust crime which involves giving, receiving a valuable thing with the aim of influencing an official in discharge of legal or public duties. It is punishable by law and anybody caught on the act is subjected to a fine or imprisonment. Bribery is an evil act that is common almost everywhere in the current society. There are usually two parties involved in bribery and they are the giver and the recipient. In order for corruption to go through both parties must be able and willing to enter into the corrupt agreement. Bribery aims at enriching the selfish interest of both parties involved. Bribery has become away to get things done without following the proper channel. It is the short cut that solves all the impossible hurdles that can face an individual therefore legal action needs to be taken to stop the vice from becoming rampant (Legal Information Institute, 2010).
Reason for bribery
The root cause of bribery is the love for money and money is the root of all evil. With money it is said that you can buy almost everything on the surface of the world from the basic needs, luxuries and even people. The desire for money by both the giver and the recipient of bribe is what has made bribery more appealing in the current society. People who are often at a disadvantage on a given situation or time often resort to offer bribe to turn things on their favor. The increase in the rate of bribery can be attributed to the rising common believe that each person has a price tag and therefore can be induced to make a favorable decision when in the position to do so and is paid the price for it.
Although there is a lot of stigma associated with bribery in the society, many people unknowingly engages in the act without their realization. Parents and caregivers are partly responsible for rising bribery for they often bribe their children to do things in a certain manner rather than making them do something because it the right thing to be done. It is popular habit among parents to promise their children toys, candies, gifts for a good performance in school or on a given task.
The impact of bribe
Bribe has been used to influence the outcome of election result, to acquire a new job, to falsify examination result, to win government tenders, to influence the decision of the court just to mention a few. Bribery denies the truth and righteousness to take its course making the society completely rotten since the right decisions are often never made just because of bribery. It is common among government officials and affects large proportion of citizen. This corrupt act is resented in mature democracy since it kills public trust on the government and private institution thereby undermining democracy and human rights. It has become a common phenomenon for civil servants to get bribe for what they are supposed to do legitimately and this habit has formed part of work routine. People have gotten accustomed to having their way by offering bribes. Social and economic status of business people, politician, civil servants and other workers have risen just because of bribery (Serious Fraud Office, (SFO).
Laws pertaining to bribery
Bribery is an act that is punishable by law in most countries. The Federal bribery statute provides punishment for bribery offenders which include a fine not exceeding three times the value of the bribe or imprisonment not exceeding fifteen years. In the United States of America, bribery is enough to cause an impeachment of the president, vice president and the offic...