In US Culture, there's still plenty of reason to discourage people from offering bribes. Offering bribes encourages corruption. The victims of a bribe in the

In US Culture, there's still plenty of reason to discourage people from offering bribes. Offering bribes encourages corruption. The victims of a bribe in the US are typically everyone BUT the briber and the collector. If you're at a restaurant and bribe a maitre d' to bump up your priority for a table, he pockets some cash you get your table and all the people following the rules get boned. The briber is not being exploited at all. This scenario is probably not illegal and certainly not a big deal, but is a good example of the way our cultural rules usually work. In a place like India, where it's typical for government workers to expect bribes and refuse service without it, or for police to hassle people about trivial things like whether the mirror on your bike is adjusted properly, it's really more appropriately called extortion. The victims are the people paying the 'bribes.' The only one who really benefits is the collector. In that case it makes more sense to focus on solving the problem from that angle.