Abstract
Ninety three of the 1,818 people who served in the U.S. House of Representatives between 1972 and 2012 were investigated for corruption by the Ethics Committee. Eighteen were acquitted and 75 suffered consequences (reprimand/payback/resignation/conviction). Detailed analysis of the data shows that the longer one is in Congress, the more likely is the chance of corruption. In addition, the more powerful one is in Congress, the more likely is the chance of corruption. This article concludes that corruption follows opportunity. In general, the more opportunity members of Congress have to engage in corruption, the more they will ultimately succumb to corruption.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 478-496 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Public Integrity |
Volume | 20 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 3 Sept 2018 |
Event | American Politics Group Annual Meeting, Oxford University, United Kingdom - Duration: 1 Jan 2018 → … |
Keywords
- corruption
- ethics investigations
- opportunity
- US. Congress