Bribery

Bribery, in law, the illegal influencing of any person in the exercise of a public duty through the payment of money or anything of value. In the code set down by the Babylonian king Hammurabi, bribery was a punishable offense. By modern common law and statute, the tenderer and the solicitor of bribes are equally culpable. In the United States bribery and attempted bribery are defined by the federal government and by most of the states as felonies, punishable in many states by imprisonment. Many states also forbid the bribery of labor union agents, business representatives, athletes, jury witnesses, and voters. See Electoral Reform.