This publication offers a distinctive and comprehensive look on the many and varied ways that the federal government seeks to prevent and punish corruption at all levels of government leadership. This is a comprehensive guide on how the law works and the issues under a particular provision provides a thorough legal analysis concentrating primarily on the federal laws applied to prosecute public corruption. The publication surveys the wide range of federal statutes that authorize prosecution for the misuse of public authority and the protection of government officials from corrupting influences, covering bribery and unlawful gratuities, conflicts of interest, campaign finance, and federal employment practices restrictions. This publication analyzes both the substantive provisions and related topics that can come up in any case, such as venue and sentencing. The focus is on how these laws work at a practical level, identifying the important issues and leading cases that provide the foundation for understanding how the case will unfold.

Over the past fifty years, the prosecution of public corruption has been a priority of the U.S. Department of Justice. There has been no shortage of cases, from prosecutions of members of Congress, to governors and state legislators, to local officials throughout the country. Since the first edition of this book appeared, charges have been pursued against a former governor of Virginia and his wife, and the former mayors of Detroit and New Orleans were convicted for accepting bribes. Compared to other nations, the United States is certainly not one in which corruption is pervasive, but it still occurs far too often and has a negative impact on the public perception of government.