Types of Corruption | With Examples & Related consequences

Corruption is a social evil where the quality of service is lost for the unaccounted benefit.

This crime is prevalent worldwide in most countries. Only the degree and extent of it varies.

Corruption types are many based on the means used for the purpose, the level, effect, impact, etc.

But since corruption is a social cause, the best way of its classification is based on its social impact.

Types of corruption

1. Corruption in judiciary
2. Business corruption
3. Political corruption
4. Corruption in government
5. Corruption in law enforcement
6. corruption in education
7. Health care system
8. Administrative corruption

Types of corruption in the judiciary

Judiciary is one of the essential systems to protect the constitution of a nation and safeguard the citizens.

But due to unlimited powers, the judges in the courts are susceptible to corruption.

They tend to destroy the justice and judiciary support to a person or society as a whole.

The common types of corruption in the judiciary are

1. Delayed justice
2. Selective justice
3. Voluntary harassment
4. Scope for misuse and misbehavior.

Delayed justice

There is a saying “justice delayed is justice denied.” This principle is applied here by the judiciary in a few countries.

The victim is allowed to suffer due to the delay in judgment. This occurs in both criminal and civil cases.

The cases which have to be closed fast are dragged for prolonged periods. This leads to suffering by the persons involved in the cases.

There are even cases where the common waiting for justice undergoes severe mental stress and die of it.

This delay in many ways could be due to the deliberate delaying of cases by the judges.

If a case has reached the closing stage, they postpone the judgment to deliver after court holidays.

For the judge, it could be a vacation. But, for those involved, it would be a nightmare as they have to spend time in anxiety about the outcome of the verdict.

Selective justice

• This is an even funny way of misuse of the justice system.

• When there are many cases pending, they take up cases instantly to give bail or other reliefs to the rich and famous people.

• But, there will be many common people waiting for their cases to be heard.

Intentional harassment

• This occurs when the people in the system have a political or religious inclination.

• They try to give orders out of their personal discomfort, past hatred or based on their own opinions to satisfy their egos.

• You may notice that some judgment would be targeted against a political party or against a religious community.

Scope for misuse and misbehavior

• In some cases, judicial people try to relieve a person from punishment by taking bribes.

• This is not a secret and the use of the right channel helps one to achieve that unless there is no public glare.

You can check this article for examples of judicial corruption in America.

Corruption in business

• This is a widespread and also long-standing problem.

• Business people opt for corrupt practices to generate more income. They can do so by forcing the government to enact some laws in their favor.

• Another way is to avoid quality control so as to produce sub-standard goods and save money.

• For example in the united states as per the Affordable Care Act, everyone needs to have health insurance.

• If not, they had to pay a penalty. So, this way law is enforced to support insurance companies.

• In another way, to produce sub-standard products, the lack of stringent quality control enables businessmen to sell low-quality goods.

• But the same company will produce a high standard product for other countries with stringent quality control laws.

Political corruption

This is the worst case of moral corruption. Here political parties do it in a few ways like

1. Appease people of freebies or subsidies
2. Appease minorities
3. Buy votes and mandate.

• Any type of political corruption is a loss to the nation.

• But interestingly, not all the masses will be able to read these intentions of politicians and fall into their trap and give them votes.

Corruption in government

• Those in power will resort to corruption. They do it by making scams, awarding contracts to their friends, etc.

• They continue this till the end of the term in office. The media can easily track and let the public know it.

• But since few media bodies are also corrupted, they tend to be blind to such issues and protect the governments.

Corruption in law enforcement

• This relates to the corruption in police departments.

• This form of corruption is present in almost all countries.

• The police authorities accept bribes and help destroy the evidence.

Corruption in education

Education is essential demand for the people and it is an option for corruption

To en-cash it, there are many businessmen in the education sector.

They tend to make money out of the education system by different means which ultimately leads to poor education service to the students.

Corruption in the health care system

This involves improper healthcare or favor to one company or related corruption.

This form of corruption is also seen in developed countries.

Administrative corruption

• This form of corruption is similar to government corruption but is spread to the lower levels among the public servants.

• The officers or servants involve in bribery to perform their duties towards to common public.

For instance in developing countries, the government workforce is not disciplined. It takes months or even years to pass a file or complete a task. This process is hastened if the concerned person gives a small monetary benefit to the official. The person who gave a bribe does not lose much. But the official got some benefit which is not so huge.

Frequently asked questions and answers

What type of corruption involves police testilying?

This comes under the corruption of law enforcement.