Question

Corruption is the social crime?why

Answer 1

All crimes are social problems. Not all social problems are crimes.

Referring to corruption as a social problem is not inaccurate, but it does understate the seriousness of its impacts. Corruption is a social problem that sits squarely and unequivocally in the realm of criminality.

Example of a social problem - Binge Drinking:

Many people enjoy going out for a drink with friends, and for the majority there are no major social impacts. However, there are enough people who abuse alcohol sufficiently for it to become a social issue, i.e., their resulting behaviour impacts on all of us:

Lost productivity in the workforce due to sick days;
Chronic long term health issues;
Road deaths, injuries, and property damage from drink driving;
Domestic violence; and
Street violence.
Binge drinking itself is not a criminal offence. The above described behaviours associated with binge drinking ultimately incur a cost to the taxpayer, and/or consumer, and are therefore a burden on society. The social remedies to address binge drinking involve awareness campaigns and regulations around the responsible service of alcohol. Some of the resulting impacts are treated as criminal offences, because they cross the social threshold of acceptability.

Crimes are social problems which cross that threshold.

Corruption is defined as: ‘Dishonest or fraudulent conduct by those in power, typically involving bribery.’ corruption | Definition of corruption in English by Oxford Dictionaries

At law, dishonesty and fraudulent conduct are further defined by statute. That is to say, for a conduct to be ‘dishonest’ or ‘fraudulent’ at law, it has to satisfy the various evidential elements of a prescribed offence in some form of legal code.

Bribery is absolutely illegal. Most countries now have laws prohibiting the bribery of its own officials, as well as laws prohibiting employees of private companies taking secret commissions. More and more countries are enacting laws which prohibit its citizens and corporations from bribing officials in foreign countries. I am unaware of a single country where paying bribes is lawful.

Bribery and corruption undermines good governance, hurts economies and hurts people. Decisions which are made objectively, whether on behalf of a State or a corporation, generally return a result which is the most efficient use of resources and therefore beneficial to all the interested parties. When these decisions are compromised by the payment of a bribe or a secret commission, then the result is generally one which predominantly benefits the briber and the decision maker, at the expense of everyone else.

Corruption is a criminal problem because it is a practice which tears at the fabric of our society. If left unchecked, corruption will shift the balance of power and concentration of wealth in favour of those who value their own self interest above the interests of the community. It is a social problem, but it is much, much more than that.