People will do a lot of things to sway the opinions and actions of politicians and other public officials. In some cases, they’ll attempt to bride them by offering financial compensation in exchange for the official taking specific action on their behalf.

For instance, maybe a company has been breaking environmental rules. A new bill comes up that would change the environmental rules so that the company would comply, and they want it to be passed into law. They may approach someone who has a key vote and offer to pay them to vote in their favor. This is illegal on the grounds that the vote is not authentic and does not really consider the best interests of the public.

However, this practice has been very common in American history, even in relatively recent years. It happened a lot in the 1970s, and we have records to show the levels of corruption that were reached. Though events at that time changed public perception a bit, bribery still happens today.

For those running for political office, though, a bribe can have a drastic impact on their career. Not only could it lead to legal charges, but it may undermine all chances the

That’s why it’s so important to know what does and does not constitute a bribe. What if you accept a gift from someone, believing you’re allowed to do so, and then get accused of accepting a bribe? Maybe it wasn’t a cash bribe, so you didn’t think it was illegal. Just the allegations alone can be bad for your career. Make sure you know about your legal options.