corruption

Definition of corruption

Etymology

From French corruption, from Latin corruptio

Noun

corruption (countable and uncountable; plural corruptions)

1. 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.
   
   * Henry Hallam The Constitutional History of England
   It was necessary, by exposing the gross corruptions of monasteries, . . . to exite popular indignation against them.
   
   * Bancroft
   They abstained from some of the worst methods of corruption usual to their party in its earlier days.
   
   
2. The act of corrupting or making putrid, or state of being corrupt or putrid; decomposition or disorganization, in the process of putrefaction; putrefaction; deterioration.
3. The product of corruption; putrid matter.
4. The decomposition of biological matter.
5. (computing) The destruction of data by manipulation of parts of it, usually a result of imperfections in storage or transmission media which randomly alter parts of the data.
6. The act of changing, or of being changed, for the worse; departure from what is pure, simple, or correct; as, a corruption of style; corruption in language.
7. (linguistics) A debased or nonstandard form of a word, expression, or text, resulting from misunderstanding, transcription error, mishearing, etc.
8. Something that is evil but is supposed to be good.
   
   The inducing and accelerating of putrefaction is a subject of very universal inquiry; for corruption is a reciprocal to generation. - Francis Bacon.

Usage notes

• Corruption, when applied to officers, trustees, etc., signifies the inducing a violation of duty by means of pecuniary considerations. - Abbott

Further reading

In philosophical, theological, or moral discussions, corruption is spiritual or moral impurity or deviation from an ideal. In economy, corruption is payment for services or material which the recipient is not due, under law. This may be called bribery, kickback, or, in the Middle East, baksheesh.

Corrupt activities

• Abuse of the system
• Bid rigging
• Bribery in politics, business, or sport
• Cartel
• Collusion, an agreement between two or more persons, sometimes illegal and therefore secretive, to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading, or defrauding others of their legal rights, or to obtain an objective forbidden by law typically by defrauding or gaining an unfair advantage
• Cronyism
• Electoral fraud
• Embezzlement
• Influence peddling
• Nepotism
• Organized crime
• Patronage
• Price Fixing

By field

- Politics

Political corruption is the abuse of public power, office, or resources by elected government officials for personal gain, e.g. by extortion, soliciting or offering bribes. It can also take the form of office holders maintaining themselves in office by purchasing votes by enacting laws which use taxpayer money. Systemic corruption, the complete subversion of a political or economic system. Governmental corruption of judiciary is broadly known in many transitional and developing countries because the budget is almost completely controlled by the executive. The latter undermines the separation of powers, as it creates a critical financial dependence of the judiciary. The proper national wealth distribution including the government spending on the judiciary is subject of the constitutional economics. It is important to distinguish between the two methods of corruption of the judiciary: the government (through budget planning and various privileges), and the private.

- Police

Police corruption is a specific form of police misconduct designed to obtain financial benefits, other personal gain, and/or career advancement for a police officer or officers in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. One common form of police corruption is soliciting and/or accepting bribes in exchange for not reporting organized drug or prostitution rings or other illegal activities. Another example is police officers flouting the police code of conduct in order to secure convictions of suspects - for example, through the use of falsified evidence. More rarely, police officers may deliberately and systematically participate in organized crime themselves. In most major cities, there are internal affairs sections to investigate suspected police corruption or misconduct. Similar entities include the British Independent Police Complaints Commission.