Unintentional corruption

Deputies of the State Duma approved in the first reading a bill that exempts officials, judges, prosecutors, military personnel and other categories of citizens fr om punishment for violating anti-corruption norms if it occurred due to circumstances beyond the control of civil servants, that is, accidentally. Information on the passage of draft law No. 1078992-7 "On Amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation in terms of improving measures of responsibility for corruption offenses" is published in the legislative base of the lower house of Parliament.



The explanatory note to the document states that "an individual is exempt from liability" for violating anti-corruption laws if " non-compliance with restrictions and prohibitions is recognized as a consequence of circumstances beyond his control."



Here are my thoughts on this matter:



1. Circumstances – a murky topic, since the very triad of a corrupt personality consists of circumstances, pressure (external and internal) and justification. Let's take a closer look at the components of this triad.

2. Not all Russians have the circumstances due to which a civil servant has the opportunity to take a bribe. This circumstance, which does not depend on the civil servant, "falls" on the head of the official as soon as he becomes a civil servant. The only exceptions are those civil servants who have become such not in order to accidentally and for reasons beyond their control get into this evil circumstance.

3. External pressure is a bribe dependence, in which there is a hierarchy of corruption at different levels of power, that is, the pressure of the higher layers of power on the lower layers. This, too, often does not depend on the corrupt official. He's already a victim of the system.

4. Internal pressure is a bribe-taking, in which a corrupt official cannot not take, since he has an attack of neurosis or depression if he does not take wh ere it was possible to take. I have many scientific articles about the phenomenon of bribery in major Russian academic journals (see Bribery as one of the reasons for bribery:psychological analysis, Current problems of economics and law. p. 9 -14) Bribery as an attack also does not depend on the corrupt official. An attack invades and he can't do anything about it.

5. And finally, an excuse. A corrupt official always justifies his actions in order not to suffer. It is possible that some of them were so carried away by these excuses that they provoked the processes of the appearance of the above-mentioned draft law, which will now exempt officials, judges, prosecutors, military personnel and other categories of citizens from punishment for violating anti-corruption norms.

Thus, the elements and disasters associated with internal and external pressure that affect the psyche of a corrupt official are enough and there is no room for consciousness and responsibility?! A paradox?

There is, of course, some of my irony in all this, but it is in the irony of the world that the truth is hidden…

Associate Professor of the Institute of Psychology and Education of KFU, Candidate of Psychological Sciences Ramil Garifullin