Free Essay

Corruption

In:

Submitted By BW38106
Words 4374
Pages 18
A brief Review of Corruption

Table of Contents
Table of Contents……………………………………………………………2
Abstract………………………………………………………………………3
Introduction………………………………………………………………....4
Background………………………………………………………………….5
Research Methods ……………………………………………………....…..7
Interviews……………………………………………………………….……7
Results………………………………………………………………………..16
Discussion…………………………………………………………………….16
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………17
Work Cited…………………………………………………………………..18

Abstract My research paper will not be designed to solve a particular problem but instead to illuminate the enormity and insidious nature of ‘Corruption. Also to illustrate, by various examples how, trivial local issues of corruption are probably just r the tip of the iceberg.
In other words, the problem is identify and discuss examples of ‘Corruption’ of varying sizes, importance to the local community and nation, and the media exposure of each. To begin my research, I sought to get a clear workable definition of ‘Corruption’ as evidenced by the three almost distinct definitions presented in the text...The research also involved interviews of community members. The third phase of my research involved reading and investigating what newspaper’s reported on ‘Corruption’; what writers and scholars from academia recorded; and what I could gleam from magazines and other periodicals.
The Conclusions drawn are:
- The minority voting population is very immature and should grow up and stop voting for candidates of color just because of their color.
- Laws should be enacted to prevent convicted felons from running for public office.
- Corruption will always exist in governments, organizations, and institutions.
- A liberal education would help people understand and more readily recognize corruption.
Recommendations
The problem is so complex and wide spread that I do not have any specific recommendation. However, that is an organization that has a program that advocates mounting massive anti-corruption campaigns, mainly focused on awareness, transparency and exposure to curb corruption

Introduction In the mad chase for choosing a topic, I choose corruption thinking this single word would lead to simplistic findings and easy to record and thus easy to write a report. In stead, I found corruption to be very broad and complex issue with too many tentacles to follow. Therefore, I decided to shape my research paper on to illuminate the enormity and insidious nature of corruption and illustrate, by various examples how, what might seem as trivial local issues probably just represents the tip of the iceberg as it relates to the national or local community loss to the public in both human and financial resources. In other words, the problem is identify and discuss examples of corruption of varying sizes, importance to the local community and nation, and the media exposure of each size and type. By size I mean amount of money involved, number of people involved and whether it is local (small) or national (large). I propose that because corruption can be so innocuous those local authorities very seldom investigate of even attempt to prosecute suspicious acts of corruption because investigations are so expensive and time consuming. From a personal perspective, I think it is important because many crimes of this nature go unnoticed because the general public is not aware of their occurrences or the negative impact these acts can have on them as individuals and the communities in which they live. As a rare college student in my family, I will be able to share the information I gain through this research in a constructive cohesive manner to help my family and friends recognize ‘Corruption’ in its most innocent looking forms so they can avoid being a victim or unwitting participant or help investigators gather information if called upon.

Background To begin my research, I sought to get a clear workable definition of corruption as evidenced by the definitions below. I also made a list of the persons in our community that I would try to interview. They included: the former first Black Director of the Memphis Police Department; a former Attorney General of the State of Tennessee; and the spokes person for the Memphis police Department. The third phase of my research involved reading and investigating what newspaper’s reported on corruption what writers and scholars from academia recorded; and what I could gleam from magazines and other periodicals. According to USL Legal.Com, corruption in the legal context refers to a wrongful design to acquire or cause some pecuniary or other advantage. Corruption may encompass a variety of wrongful acts, such as, among others, bribes, kickbacks, jury tampering, and abuse of public office. (Legal Definitions Home, 2014) Also, findlaw.com/corruption, defines corruption as the means any abuse of a position of trust in order to gain an undue advantage. This involves the conduct of both sides: that of the person who abuses his position of trust as well as that of the person who seeks to gain an undue advantage by this abuse. Corruption can occur in relation to officials as well as between private persons. It is particularly prevalent in certain kinds of transactions for example, when awarding public contracts, in certain economic sectors for example, in extractive industries, and in certain countries. (Findlaw, 2014) The World Book Encyclopedia defines corruption as the act of making or the process of becoming evil or wicked and evil conduct and wickedness. The Encyclopedia adds five additional definitions to the term, corruption with the last being rot: decay. (Barnhart, 1966) I will offer one more definition of corruption! I offer these several definitions because each one implies some minute different nuances that that points to the insidious nature of corruption and the widespread use of the term. John E Conkin in his book, Criminology, discusses white-collar crime which includes crimes many of which are also considered to be instances of examples of corruption. He also discusses white-collar crime from a sociological perspective. He maintains that white-collar crime corruption is committed in the course of a legitimate occupation or pursuit by a corporation or by an otherwise respectable individual of high social standing. (Conklin, 2004) This definition introduces a relatively new perspective about the types of persons involved in corruption. From my perspective the added dimension is that these persons are respectable individuals of high social standing. These individuals may be of high social standing because they have lots of money that was gained illegally, usually from people who least could afford the financial loss. The worst part of this is that most victims of these individuals of high social standing are not even aware that they are indeed victims. White-collar crime often involves elaborate planning. On page 65, Mr. Conkin presents a table of Major Types of White-Collar Crime. I find this table very interesting and I will present a partial list of those crimes because they are not often considered by the general public until some person or media representative exposes it in a mass media presentation. The table is divided into four major categories and they include:
Crimes by Business– Deceptive advertising insider trading false valuation of assets mail and Wire fraud tax fraud bribery of political officials’ unsafe working conditions environmental law violations false weights and measures by retailers-Misrepresentation of credit terms. (Conklin, 2004)
Crimes by Employees against Business-Embezzlement and employee theft Expense account fraud by Government Employees -Bribes taking by police officers, bribes taking by political officials, and embezzlement by political officials. (Conklin, 2004)
Crimes by Professionals-Medical quackery health care fraud- Fraudulent damage claims by lawyers. (Conklin, 2004)
These definitions helped me get a ‘feel’ for the true meaning of corruption as it relates to criminal behavior in our communities organizations and institutions. They help explain why so many corrupt acts go undetected and unpunished but they certainly impact all of us throughout our organizations and institutions.
Resources and Methods Interviews As indicated earlier, I had planned three interviews. I contacted the former Chief of the Memphis Police department, Melvin Burgess. I asked his would he comment on one case involving corruption within the Memphis City Government. He said, “I was aware of rumors that were being circulated about certain individuals, but those kinds of things are usually formally investigated by the Tennessee Federal Bureau of Investigation. I was never closely involved in the investigations and the outcomes of the Tennessee Federal Bureau of Investigation were published in the local newspapers. I can not be anymore specific.” The telephone interview ended at that point. I also attempted to interview Attorney Kustoff, a former Attorney general for the State of Tennessee. I called his office in an attempt to get either a face-to-face interview with him or a short telephone interview.
When asked specifically what I wanted to speak with him about, I proposed the same question that was asked of former Chief of the Memphis Police department, ‘Would he comment on one case involving corruption within the Memphis City Government, or any other Tennessee government official. On follow up, I was told that Attorney Kustoff would not have any comments because of possible legal complications. My efforts to contact a current Memphis Police Department spokesperson were unsuccessful, buried in a host of unreturned phone calls. However, I was able to interview my seventy-two year old grandmother, Mrs. Dorothy Jackson Walker, who was an elementary school principal in the legacy Memphis City Schools and an advocate for public schools for over thirty years. During her tenure as principal at Georgia Avenue Elementary school, the school was never on the list of low achieving schools published by the Tennessee Department of Education.
After giving Mrs. Walker some time to prepare notes, the interview went as follows:
Me: Are you aware of any crimes that were committed by Memphis City Schools’ administrators or other staff personnel?
Mrs. Walker: Yes, there were many crimes committed by Memphis City Schools ‘administrators or other staff personnel.
Me: Would you please share them with me?
Mrs. Walker: Let me try to think and put these in so sort of order.
Me: Don’t worry about order; I am only interested in the crime themselves.
Mrs. Walker: Recently, a principal at an elementary school had some one on her staff working at her home instead of being at school teaching in a classroom.
Me: What kind of work was she doing?
Mrs. Walker: She was house cleaning and baby sitting.
Me: How did school officials become aware of this behavior?
Mrs. Walker: Another principal told a school official
Me: And then what happened?
Mrs. Walker: School officials sent security officers to the school to escort her off the premises and she was subsequently fired.
Me: Was there any kind of criminal charges?
Mrs. Walker: Not to my knowledge! (Laughter)
Me: Why did you laugh?
Mrs. Walker: Because school officials never file criminal charges against an employee. If criminal charges are ever filled against a teacher or principal, it is usually because there was physical injury to a child and the parents file a joint law suit against the teacher and the Memphis City Schools.
Me: Was this event ever report to the media?
Mrs. Walker: No, that rarely happens! The School System tries to avoid all negative publicity.
Me: Do you know of any other instances of crimes being committed?
Mrs. Walker: Child, there are lots of crimes that have been committed and have not been reported to police authorities or news media. These crimes are handled as quietly as possible to keep down negative publicity and handling it in this manner really saves money in the long run because of the expenses related to lawyers and trails. School officials just use the State Tenure Laws relative to personal conduct and the teacher’s contract to quickly resolve the issue.
Me: Before we go on let me ask you what you personally feel about crimes of this nature. My topic for this paper is corruption; do you think these crimes are corruption? Do you feel the manner that these are handled is appropriate?
Mrs. Walker: These people are as corrupt as any other person committing crimes. Yes, I think the Memphis City Schools officials are handling these cases appropriately. Think about this, teachers and other school personnel are held in high esteem by the community at large. These people have spent a great deal of lives preparing to become teachers and school administrators. Their whole livelihoods are dependent upon this profession. What about their own children and the questions they must face? Yes, the penalties go way beyond just the losing of the job. Why, most of the times they can’t even get another job in a school.
Me: Ok, please tell me about another incident.
Mrs. Walker: Alright, I am going to just tell you the whole story and you can ask me questions after I finsh.
Me: OK. Fine!
Mrs. Walker: Mary Maclin, a principal, improperly used school funds. She took her family members on an out of town trip that they did not pay for. She charged other people more than the minimum fees required to make up for the difference. Also, she allegedly bought a rug with Title I funds for her school but gave it to her daughter for use at another school in her classroom. This principal, also allegedly sold some kind of booklets, but never reported the money to the financial secretary. Additionally, she directed some custodial staff members go to her parents house to clean it on school time and with school resources.
Me: How did school officials become aware of this behavior?
Mrs. Walker: Well, it seems that an enterprising teacher that the principal had been ‘riding’ watched the principal very closely and checked records and asked questions and took notes which she gave to the Memphis City School personnel department officials and to the Teachers’ Union.
Me: And then what happened?
Mrs. Walker: School officials made a through investigation and the principal was subsequently fired.
Me: Will you share another incident with me. Oh, why is it that you know all of this and there were no publicized accounts.
Mrs. Walker: When you have been in an organization for over thirty years, you meet a lot of people, you help a lot of people, and you make a lot of friends and enemies. People tell me things because they want to talk with me.
Me: Tell me some more! This is almost like a soap opera.
Mrs. Walker: Ok, I will give you short synopses of several incidents the principals or personnel were all fired and very little or any of these were publicized.
Me: Ok, go!
Mrs. Walker: -Laviticus Pointer claimed he used school funds to buy food for athletes that had already been paid for by a school sponsor.
-Louis Holmes used God’s name in a prayer in an assembly. This is forbidden. A faculty member objected to this and reported it to a Central Office Official.
-Liriah Sabir, a principal, hired people to work at her school without proper authorization and going through the personnel department.-The principal at Ridgeway Middle School failed to inform a parent that the child had and accident and hit her head on a desk. Due to the lack of attention, the injury caused the child’s death.
-Sonny Hicks, a principal, had sexual contact with a female student that lead to her getting pregnant. The mother sued the principal and the Memphis Board of Education. Due to the nature of this case, by law, it was published in the local newspaper, the Commercial Appeal.
-Donna Essary wrote and cashed Memphis City Schools’ checks and cashed them at a casino in Mississippi. I was told that she lost the money. Talking about poetic justice!
-Edwin Gaskin, a principal, changed some students test scores to meet academic goals.
-The principal at Fairview Elementary used his playground to allow people attending the fair to park for a fee. He and his secretary kept the money collected.
Me: Wow, Grandmother you have an excellent memory.
Mrs. Walker: I can remember all these things but I can’t remember where I laid my eyeglasses. Let me tell you the last story. This one involved some jail time for several people and several people lost there jobs. This story was covered extensively by the Commercial Appeal and the local Television Stations.
Me: What is it?
Mrs. Walker: As you know, in order for new teachers gain certification to teach and to keep their jobs, they must pass the PRAXIS in their area of specialization. Mr. Clarence Munford had set up a network of proven test takers who would be paid a fee for masquerading as another person for a large sum of money. One test taker acted stupid and went to the same facility twice in one day, got caught, and blew the whole scheme sky high. I believe some people are still waiting for trails or sentencing. All known perpetrators have been fired. I am grateful that I do not have any children in any of those schools corruption in one area usually manifest itself in other areas. There seems to be an epidemic of corrupt ideals of what is correct and what is wrong. I certainly hope what appears to be an environment that breeds or fosters corruption is not prevalent.
But one must wonder, if Mrs. Dorothy Walker has witnessed these many corrupt acts how many have been observed by others or have not been reported.
On August 20, 2012, the Commercial Appeal posted an article titled, “Former State Sen., John Ford Released from Federal Prison” written by Marc Perrusquia The article stated that Former State Senator John Ford returned to Memphis on Monday, four years and four months after he left to serve a term in federal prison for bribery. He was released from the Federal Correctional Institute in Yazoo City, Miss and reported to a halfway house at 1629 Winchester (Perrusquia, Former state Sen. John Ford released from federal prison, August 2012) The article further stated that John Ford was one of 12 legislators, lobbyists and local officials caught in a bribery sting operation by the FBI's Tennessee Waltz which involved undercover agents posing as corrupt businessmen who offered Ford and others cash for their influence and favorable legislation. Ford was video taped pocketing $55,000 in cash. He was later convicted in a separate trial of taking $850,000 in kickbacks from state contractors and sentenced to 14 years. However, the conviction was tossed out when the U.S. Supreme Court reformed the federal Honest Services Fraud statute. (Perrusquia, Former state Sen. John Ford released from federal prison, August 2012) My grandparents voted for John Ford several times but became disenchanted with his personal life and brashness. They did not vote for him in his last election. In their opinion, he was too corrupt and reckless and selfish to serve the people who voted for him and to be a role model for young people. To me, John Ford was the most disappointing political figure in my young life. His corruption was well known to me, a person who was not normally interested in those types of things.
The Memphis Flyer posted an article titled,”On Rickey Peete: "An indictment against all of us".by John Branston. The article begins with the following statement, “Nothing is more hypocritical than the finger-pointing of white Memphians who say the political career of Rickey Peete illustrates some kind of inherent criminal shortcomings of the black electorate. (Branston, 2010, Fall) “I can’t begin to express how angry I feel about this kind of horrible indictment of all Black people. Ricky Peete is a convicted felon of his own doing! He has proven to be as corrupt as some of his White counterparts and his other racial peers. In my opinion, what happened to allow Ricky Peete to be elected three times by voters in his majority-black district after he had served a prison sentence for taking a bribe as a member of the Memphis City Council is an indictment against a system that would allow him to seek office. This also illustrates exactly why I am conducting this research! As I stated earlier, I want to be in a position to help educate my family and friends about the subtleties of corruption and corrupt officials. We have got to learn how corruption lessens our daily livelihoods and decrease our opportunities for advance. We can no longer continue to support weak and corrupt individuals just because they happen to be Black. For example, Ricky Peete was found guilty on a federal bribery charge that was in performance of his public duties. (Branston, 2010, Fall) Not because he is black and black people voted for him but, because the person, Ricky Peete is corrupt and is not worthy of our support. On May 25, 2010, Jody Callahan wrote an article titled “Former Memphis councilman Rickey Peete granted early release. She begin the article by stating, “Former Memphis City Council member Rickey Peete, who was twice convicted on bribery charges, has been released early from federal prison. (Callahan, 2010 May)” The article continues to discuss the and how Mr. Peete was in a halfway house but, the most important statement was his was being released for his 2007 conviction to taking $12,400 in bribes for his vote on a zoning issue and this was his second conviction for selling his votes. (Callahan, 2010 May) I was. Immediately impacted by the reality that voters in his district were, in reality, actually voting for corruption in our government. The need for education is very apparent.
On December 19, 2006, the Memphis Business Journal reported that “Memphis City Council members Edmund Ford and Rickey Peete were officially indicted for allegedly taking bribes to influence City Council votes.” (Ford, Peete indicted, 2006, December) The indictments alleged that Shelby County Commission candidate Joe Cooper, acted as an informant for federal agents and allegedly paid both Peete and Ford $14,500 and $8,900, respectively. Payments were made to the men to guarantee that the City Council would approve a certain real estate development and billboard deal. (Ford, Peete indicted, 2006, December) I do not consider this to be just another indictment against corrupt politicians selling their votes. This trend is getting alarming when taken into the context that in the City of Memphis Black politicians are in the great minority and all of these politicians are Black.
I was now curious about corruption on a bigger scale. I decided to read portions a book titled “ The Corruption Chronicles: Barack Obama’s Big Secrecy, Big Corruption, and Big Government written Tom Fitton of the Judicial Watch. I quickly discovered that Mr. Fitton termed every major action taken by President Barack Obama as corrupt. Mr. Fitton said, “The first indication that then Senator Barack Obama was personally corrupt was his relationship with dirty real estate magnate and fund raiser Tony Rezko.” (Fitton, Introducing Barack Obama, 2012) Mr. Fitton goes on to say that then Senator Barack Obama denied that he was a personal friend with Tony Rezko and he could prove that he lied. Mr. Fitton continued by indicating that Barack Obama became involved in the corrupt politics of Chicago by working closely with known political machine members.
He also, mentioned his relationship with his pastor, whom he called the radical Marxist Reverend Jeremiah Wright. These claims have been well documented in the mass media. He really attacked Barack Obama’s religious affiliations as if Barack Obama was advocating or supporting anti-American and anti-Christian values. (Fitton, Introducing Barack Obama, 2012) Fitton’s ranting did not convince me that Barack Obama was corrupt. Many liberals sought to disenfranchise Americans from Barack Obama by making all kinds of claims involving wrong doings. This was especially true when it came to democrats who were most likely to vote for and support Barack Obama.
Results
I am aware that results are usually reported in more quantitative terms but, the nature of this research did not lend itself to any quantitative analysis. However, things I learned include;
- The idea that brings ideals and perspectives into focus is part of learning.
- The notion that things you do not understand or even think are important can negatively affect your livelihood.
- I also learned that corruption exists in all phases, aspects, etc. of your life.
- Everyone is impacted daily with corruption and many times. they are not even aware of that fact.
- Corruption is more evasive and massive than I ever envisioned.
- Corruption is almost impossible to control.
- Corruption is not unique to just the rich and powerful.
- Corruption can topple the Presidency of the United States.

Discussion I am not sure what these findings mean! There are many laws already in place to prevent corruption but they don’t seem to curtail the active pursuit of corruptive behavior by men and women seeking power and glory through the acquisition of money by any means possible. I don’t believe additional laws or more stringent application of the laws or stricter penalties would stop the tide of corruption. History has taught that governments, organizations and institutions have always been venues for corruption to breed and grow.
Conclusion
- The minority voting population is very immature and should grow up and stop voting for candidates of color just because of their color.
- Laws should be enacted to prevent people like Ricky Peete from running for public office.
- Corruption will always exist in governments, organizations and institutions.
- A liberal education would help people understand and more readily recognize corruption.
I am sure that there are some actions that can be taken to curb the tide of corruption that seems to permeate every aspect of our community. At this time I have no suggestions that would curb this tide. However, CorruptionControl.com has a program that advocates mounting massive anti-corruption campaigns, mainly focused on awareness, transparency and exposure to curb corruption. (Approach, 2014) I would advocate utilizing programs of this nature when ever possible.

Work Cited

Approach. (2014, March 21). Retrieved from Corruption Control:

http://www.corruptioncontrol.com

Barnhart, C. L. (1966). In The World Book Encyclopedia (p. 450). Chicago: Field Enterprises

Educational Corporation.

Branston, J. ( 2010, Fall). On Rickey Peete: "An indictment again all of us.". Memphis Flyer, 3-

4.

Callahan, J. (2010 May). Former Memphis councilman Rickey Peete granted early release from

prison. Commerical Appeal, pp.A1,A3.

Conklin, J. E. (2004). White Collar. In Criminology (pp. 64-65). New York: Pearson.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Natalie Inzero CJ104 What makes corruption in the Kansas Police Department SCORE Unit a reality? Basically, in spite of the overwhelming results of police corruption is a tireless continuation of promotions and recognition from their numerous leaderships, regardless of the possibility that this is unlawful. This state of mind is so dug in, particularly in high-wrongdoing regions. By lifting the significance of truthful blame in an individual case over their ethical and moral obligations to themselves and to general society they serve, numerous cops have ended up adapted to trust they are not acting wrongly when they deceive convict offenders. The Kansas Police Department SCORE Unit does seem to repeat itself concurring counter-legitimate standards, and that the training one gets in police institutes, does not promote unethical behavior. The department showed no remorse and neither did their supervisors; it’s the “norm” kind of behavior. In order for this to change The Kansas Police Department SCORE Unit leaders ought to concentrate on honesty, enhancing enrollment and preparing, when employing newcomers and considering all leaders capable about respectability and the trustworthiness of their subordinates; considering managers in charge of transforming legitimacy advancement and task; changing police society; making preparing projects in uprightness for enlisted people and in-administration faculty, especially first-line bosses; making a successful inward uprightness observing...

Words: 490 - Pages: 2

Free Essay

Corruption

...about people and perceptions.The principal aim of using this method is to describe the degree of perception,as it existed at the time of the study. Moreover,the profile of the respondents and the data gathered were being analyzed,after which the results were described and interpreted accordingly. Subject of the Study Globalization has raised the salience of corruption as an area of academic study. The Workshop on the Study of Corruption aims to bring together faculty interested in the issue from across the University. Topics covered may include, but are not limited to, the emergence and spread of corruption in societies; the association of corruption with economic liberalization; the globalization of corrupt practices; culture and corruption; retail (individual) and wholesale (institutional) corruption; transparency and corruption; lobbying and corruption; anti-corruption activism and reform efforts; and anti-corruption as a business model. The workshop meets once per semester over lunch in a small group of about ten. Each meeting is led by a Harvard faculty member who is engaged in research or teaching of corruption-related issues. Typical pre-reading for the lunch includes a working paper, a book chapter, a teaching case, or a course syllabus. Occasionally, the faculty member leading the discussion may invite a non-faculty practitioner (such as an activist, entrepreneur, or lawyer) who can contribute to the conversation at hand. The goal for individual meetings is to provide...

Words: 390 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Corruption In India “Corruption is Social Evil” “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In its simplest sense, corruption may be defined as an act of bribery or misuse of public position or power for the fulfillment of selfish motives or to gain personal gratifications. It has also been defined as "Misuse of authority as a result of consideration of personal gain which need not be monetary". In recent Centuries India has earned a place among the THREE most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. India is now no longer considered a soft state. It has now become a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration. Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers. At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time. It is well established that politicians are extremely corrupt the world over. In fact, people are surprised to find an honest politician. These corrupt politicians go scot-free, unharmed and unpunished. Leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri or Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel are a rare breed now who had very little bank balance at the time of death. The list of scams and scandals in the country is endless. Now Recently Before Start 2010 Commen Wealth Games Corruption is playing major role with commen wealth games. The Bofors payoff...

Words: 734 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Corruption Mbogo .w. Apollo( Moi). Professor’s Name Institution Name Course Name Date Corruption Corruption in a broad sense can be defined as the process in which an individual uses his/her power and influence to achieve what he/she wants. This usually happens in a number of ways ranging from corruption carried out by a single person to the one involving multiple individuals. Regardless of the tradition that one is affiliated in, the concept of corruption is both unethical and an unnecessary evil that works to retard development both at the micro and macro environments (Johnston, 2006). Attempting to inculcate corruption in certain cultures and justifying its desirability, is only a superficial effort, which at the long run legitimizes the already corrupted. Corruption is not a western concept; it is applicable in all societies, specifically because of the repercussions it poses. There is very shallow evidence presented to suggest that corruption is part of certain socio-cultural practices. Furthermore, holding that corruption is an inherent part of human culture is undermining efforts and the hope of improving their livelihood. This creates a culture of fear and consequently corruption thrives. Corruption exists in all societies more so in developing societies. The only difference that arises is that certain societies conceptualize it differently in an attempt to escape its consequences. Dealing with corruption is like an evolutionary process. The most developed...

Words: 829 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Discussion Board #2 Key Term: Corruption BUSI 604 Corruption I chose corruption as my key term since it has proved to be a serious problem for many countries throughout the world. It shockingly affects governments, businesses and institutions at all levels. I know while working in the banking industry, I had to follow many procedures put in place to help ensure that employees were not participating in corrupt activities or if there were it would be found rather quickly. What is corruption? It seems as time goes by it is harder to define corruption. The definition of corruption and what constitutes corruption may vary among the numerous countries around the world. But Transparency International defines it as “the abuse of entrusted power for private gain”. Many see corruption as a costly problem that is plaguing businesses, government and institutions. In a study conducted by Transparency International, a vast majority of the 107 countries surveyed thought corruption had increased within their own country. Forms of corruption include bribery, embezzlement, larceny, fraud and extortion. Although it is quite difficult to estimate the costs of corruption, the World Bank was able to measure the amount of bribes paid annually worldwide. They conservatively estimated one trillion dollars in bribes are paid each year. Seeing as corruption is such a costly problem, in many respects, many countries have been trying to combat corruption in a variety of ways such as laws and...

Words: 564 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Corruption: The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss of purity or integrity; depravity; wickedness; impurity; bribery. In the film Blue Chips corruption overshadows true meaning of sports tournament. There are two challenging issues in the film dealing with money and morals. Bribery is used to save the athletic reputation of the university. A college basketball coach finds himself battling between his morals, integrity of the team and institution he works for.            Pete Bell a basketball coach at Western University. Coach Bell has an impeccable reputation at WU, coaching the number one basketball team in the nation. During his coaching career, WU has won two national championships; eight conference titles and has never had a losing season. His life passion is basketball and his greatest fear is losing a tournament. Making a six-figure salary and being responsible for a team that 15,000 people came to watch, one could say he was completely pleased. His work was honored especially the way he always played by the rules. He knew of many coaches that would bribe their recruits or players for fixed games. Bell despised coaches who played parts in suchcorruption.       During one season his greatest fear came reality. His team lost, this was a major failure to WU Corruption: The act of corrupting or of impairing integrity, virtue, or moral principle; the state of being corrupted or debased; loss...

Words: 797 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Corruption In India “Corruption is Social Evil” “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” In its simplest sense, corruption may be defined as an act of bribery or misuse of public position or power for the fulfillment of selfish motives or to gain personal gratifications. It has also been defined as "Misuse of authority as a result of consideration of personal gain which need not be monetary". In recent Centuries India has earned a place among the THREE most corrupt countries in the world. Corruption in India is a consequence of the nexus between Bureaucracy, politics and criminals. India is now no longer considered a soft state. It has now become a consideration state where everything can be had for a consideration. Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be counted on fingers. At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now bribe is paid for getting right things done at right time. It is well established that politicians are extremely corrupt the world over. In fact, people are surprised to find an honest politician. These corrupt politicians go scot-free, unharmed and unpunished. Leaders like Lal Bahadur Shastri or Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel are a rare breed now who had very little bank balance at the time of death. The list of scams and scandals in the country is endless. Now Recently Before Start 2010 Commen Wealth Games Corruption is playing major role with commen wealth games. The Bofors payoff scandal of...

Words: 734 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Corruption Hi friends I choose to speak on now-so-hot topic “corruption” I don’t want to be a pseudo intellect and do the blasphemy of judging the way of the protest implied by anna. Instead let us revisit what we have known since long. In a theological form corruption can be defined as deviation from the ideal. Deviation from the ideal is not always wrong. It is when it inclines towards a moral degradation then it creates a grave concern. We have witnessed corruption in nearly all the system we interact with. And stating the de-facto status of no system being perfect, we can expect some form of deviation from the ideal. Again it is when the level of deviation is maligned then an alarming condition is reached. It does not seem likely to limit the number of ways one can adopt to corrupt practices. But let me state some different forms which are pretty common. 1. Abusing the system. This may refer to using the rules and regulation meant to protect the system in order, instead, to manipulate the system for a desired outcome. The desired outcome may not always be with a immoral intent. 2. Bribery. It is an act implying money or gift given that alters the behavior of the recipient. 3. Nepotism 4. Cronyism 5. Embezzlement 6. Patronage 7. Lobbying I wish to produce this endless list to highlight the fact that corruption is deep rooted in our system and is quite well spread. ndia is amongst the most corrupt countries of the world with a score of...

Words: 277 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Corruption

...“Want to get some work done; take something in your pocket”. These are the words which must be stuck round everywhere. Yes, truly speaking about the widespread corruption in India. Today corruption has become an inevitable issue. Corruption is seen in almost every part of Motherland. Viewing from working post regard almost each one has dipped himself into this sinful act. “As you sow, so shall you reap” is almost violated everywhere. Evil consideration of money as everything actually depraves oneself. Money pave as a way for all sorts of luxuries required in comfortable life. “Be shameless and enjoy” slogan has been encouraged in this world. No one realizes the suffering and pain of another. “HONESTY is the best policy” is an old and outdated saying today. It would be better to amend LIC, BIMA. A financially weak person can hardly think about producing vital governmental certificate comprising of nativity, etc. He better keeps himself away from this and thus deprive of facilities. This also makes the country more and more regressed. India today has many other problems too which slows the rate of progress. Eradication of corruption will reduce the problem to great extent. Many of us are really patriotic. Love for country, destine of sacrificing for motherland can only syncope the corruption today. Many desire to try their useful hands to eradicate this, but are suggested or advised that the smaller wheels of a machine has to work as the bigger one do. A trash one will be crushed...

Words: 1367 - Pages: 6

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. Corruption in India is a major issue that adversely affects its economy. According to my view it is also a big threat to our democracy. In 2012 India was ranked 94th out of 176 countries in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index, this is very poor considering that we are the largest democracy in this world. Scandinavian countries dominate this chart with Denmark being the least corrupt followed by Finland, Sweden and Norway. In year 2008, Transparency International reports about 40% of Indians had firsthand experience of paying bribes or using a contact to get a job done in public office. This is in fact a direct attack on our democratic framework since our institution believes in right against exploitation and this clearly a breach of that right. Our control of corruption percentile is just 36% and it is very minimal considering that how much of attention we give to it. A democracy like ours cannot function like this for too long before a mass movement comes and engulfs it. Who knows we might even be struck with a military coup like our neighbour Pakistan, which would be the most disastrous. The government efforts and just not enough to curb this humongous problem. In fact the government functioning itself raises many questions whether it is committed towards it. People have to bribe for every legal document procurement, even a single stamp of an officer costs hundreds of thousands of rupees...

Words: 481 - Pages: 2

Premium Essay

Police Corruption

...Police Corruption The problems within our police departments Police corruption has become a very difficult and touchy topic to handle. Not only is it detrimental to the department, but it is something we can’t have in our community. Unfortunately it has become more and more common amongst the police departments in the United States. It has led to very bad cases such as crash in California and even the New Jersey state police lords of discipline. Police corruption can be easily solved, and it is very important to have programs like Internal Affairs to keep the officers in line. A lot of people feel that with the structure of our system and so many loopholes everywhere else that it may be easy for a cop to be corrupt. The biggest reason that police corruption occurs is because the officers abuse their given authority because they feel they have the power to do what they want when they want. Another reason police corruption happens is because they hit a bust on drugs and a cop likes the drugs so they take a little bit and don’t tell anyone. This not only is wrong for an officer, but for anyone to do and it gives the criminal less of a charge because they weren’t sentenced with as much stuff as they really had when busted. Police corruption falls into two different categories internal corruption and external corruption. Internal meaning it involves the people that work within the department, and external involves police contacts within the public. There are 3...

Words: 524 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Corruption In Prisons

...Within any establishment there is always chance for corruption. Not only prison staff, whose main goal is the reformation an inmate convicted of criminal wrongdoing, are immune. Correctional officer corruption can happen in many different type of methods might be smuggling, sexual favors for inmates, or wrongdoing of inmates. There are a different reasons of motivators or for correctional officers to become involved in this illegal acts. Corruption is a repeated hap in prisons in the nation and around the globe. The reason behind this is that jail/prison atmosphere provide for the variety of people with lost rights and people with power, plus not strict monitoring. This creates the likely possible corruption. This situations takes place under the certain circumstances. Once the wrong-doing is caught, a sort of correction process happens and wrongs are fixed. For this reason, the primary step in a promising plan to fix corruption from prisons/jails would be a strict monitoring and video tape all activities inside the prison/jail, and to give full access of operations to reliable media sources....

Words: 556 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Contents INTRODUCTION 2 Corruption 3 Types of Corruption 5 Corporate responsibility and anti-corruption 7 Reference 8 1. INTRODUCTION Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the responsibility of an organization for the impacts of its decisions and activities on society, the environment and its own prosperity. Companies have a lot of power in the community and in the national economy. They control a lot of assets, and may have billions in cash at their disposal for socially conscious investments and programs. Some companies may engage in "green washing", or feigning interest in corporate responsibility, but many large corporations are devoting real time and money to environmental sustainability programs, and various social welfare initiatives to benefit employees, customers, and the community at large. Corporate Social Responsibility tackle many issues among one is corruption. 2. CORRUPTION This part explains fully what is corruption and how it is has emerged throughout years The simple and straightforward meaning of corruption is to get work done by means of illegal gratification. A few decades back, to indulge in corrupt practices was something to be ashamed of. If a person was known to be corrupted, people would point charging fingers at him. This shows that, though corruption was there, it was a very rare phenomenon, a hush affair. Both the corrupt person and the general public being awe struck about the whole affair. The corrupt person hid his...

Words: 1239 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Effects of Corruption in Multinational Corporation’s [Student name] [Professor’s name] [Course title] [Date] Introduction Corruption can be defined as a spiritual or moral deviation from an ideal. Corruption come in different styles and that include bribery and funds embezzlement. Corruption has been the number one menace in many countries of the world. It impacts countries in many ways, impacting economy and development in a negative way. Corruption tends to raise the cost of government and may lower the rate of infrastructure growth. Most importantly, corruption has a negative impact on capitalism and foreign investment in that; it changes the environment which in turns affects decisions and actions. Corruption causes discriminatory treatment along tribal, ethnic, race and class. It also impacts in decision making process. Multinational corporations (MNCs) may be unable to compete in certain countries due to dishonesty by government officials, dependent upon a system of graft and bribery to approve and facilitate permits and various company operations. Corruption may be at the highest levels of government, where government decisions regarding military equipment, civilian aircraft, infrastructure or broad policy decisions about industrial subsidies are made, based upon favoritism rather than ethical weighing of facts. Corruption may involve elected officials and politicians as well as nonelected officials. Corruption may be voluntary and petty, for instance, paying...

Words: 1166 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Corruption

...Corruption: Good or Evil Corruption in developing countries perpetuates to be one of the greatest factors of poverty, development and internecine conflicts. Although many developing nations are endowed with priced natural resources, yet they struggle and scramble for position in the lower rungs of the United Nations Development Index. Most developing countries perpetuate to grapple with the ever transmuting trends in global politics, economic and technological advancements having little or nothing to do due to the weakening effects of corruption on their very subsistence. From the USA to the Philippines, corruption perpetuates to have an adverse effect on the lives of the vast majority of the population. Understanding the concept of corruption presupposes that one should have a clear dichotomy of what it entails and what constitutes it in the simplest term. There is no single accepted definition for the term ‘corruption’ because what may seem corrupt in one society may not indispensably be perceived as such in another. Though there have been different endeavors to define it, there is no precise, clear definition that can be applied to all forms, types and degrees. According to Friedrich (1972), “Corruption is a kind of behavior which deviates from the norm actually prevalent or behaved to prevail in a given context, such as the political. It is deviant behavior associated with a particular motivation, namely that of private gain at public expense.” The Oxford English...

Words: 1036 - Pages: 5